Come What May
by trisolivyn
Summary: As a fan of the much beloved Harry Potter series, Charlotte "Charsey" Seylor always dreamed of finding herself relieving the wizarding world through her own eyes and befriending the characters in the pages but knows that it'll never come true until a strange set of events arrives with answers and a gateway to a world that is claimed to be non-existent.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hello! This is probably the second fanfiction that I've written that's being posted on here. Honestly I'm pretty shy about posting up my writing since I'm my own worst critic and a pessimist about how it turn out. Anywho I just wanted to let you guys know that this fanfiction idea came from a poll that I did on Tumblr a year ago. It was a poll based off of which character should I pair my OC in this fanfic up with? The results came to be a tie between Fred Weasley and Seamus Finnegan but eventually Fred won! :) Originally, it was going to be about an OC within the HP world but then I expanded on idea of making a fanfiction to be about a girl who's a fan of Harry Potter (or rather a Potterhead like many of us all in the HP fandom) who finds her way into the pages of the Harry Potter series wondering how'd that turn out!

Ever since then, I stuck with the idea and wrote lots and lots of chapters but unfortunately my computer crashed. It took me awhile to gather up the plot again as well as re-write the chapters scrapping old ideas and using new ones but now I'm back to writing it. It's actually my first multi-chaptered Harry Potter fanfiction that I decided to posted on here. I will warn you ahead that it might be a snoozer for the few beginning of the chapters though. So yeah… I hope you enjoy it. ^_^;

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or the characters from the series. I'm just a fan of the series and love it so much that I wanted to write a fanfiction based off of it and everything from the characters to the plot belongs to lovely and wonderful write known as J.K. Rowling.

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Monotonous Muggle Life of Charlotte Seylor**

Even though she hated loneliness, there were times that Charlotte Seylor savored moments where she had time to herself. It was often then she used that moment of solitude to start drowning herself in a sea of thoughts. Today this took place in the girl's bathroom at her high school on a Thursday morning before first period started.

Gazing into the spot-filled mirror, Charlotte's thoughts revolved around as if to wonder if she'd ever be attractive enough for boys at her school to notice her especially her crush. Having to compare herself to many of the girls at school, she felt lowly by what she found in herself. The mirror reflecting her own appearance that she'd often frowned at.

The mirror in front of her painted a picture of what her actual appearance today: her hair resembled thin strips of muddy straws, her eye color reminded her of a spoiled banana peel, and although she ate a lot, her body shape remained chicken stick skinny. The only thing she liked were the clothes she wore otherwise she often questioned if her chicken stickiness was part of her genes.

With a sigh, she twisted the faucet and slapped the spilling water onto her face in attempt to wash out what was troubling her. At the same time, the bathroom door creaked open causing Charlotte to momentarily freeze when she heard footsteps. Her solitude had been disrupted, hoped it wasn't one of the girls from the cheerleading team because whenever they were around, there would be gossiping and hogging for the mirror. She preferred the solitude of being with her thoughts in contrast to being anywhere near around them and their gossip-filled, judgemental conversations.

"Mornin' Charsey," A tired but cheerful voice greeted her using her nickname. Charlotte slowly turned and found a girl was standing in front of the mirror next to hers. The girl had golden blonde hair, round cheeks, and a crooked nose. She was dressed in a white T-shirt with a black vest, dark skinny jeans, and ballet flats that matched her vest.

"Hey Bethany!" She greeted her best friend back with a relieved smile. The two of them were best friends ever since they met in Kindergarten even if they had different personalities. Bethany with her never-ending bluntness and holding the key to confidence whereas Charlotte had none and envied her for it.

"I figured that you'd be in here with your thoughts." Bethany said knowingly setting her messenger bag down. She stared into the mirror in front of her. Her eyelids seem to droop easily before she stretched and let out a mammoth yawn.

"Guilty as charged," Charlotte said turning off the faucet. There was no hiding from Bethany that's for sure. "How are you?"

"Good, I guess." Bethany paused as she fished for her eyeliner in her purse. "Honestly though, I'm worn out from working on that World History essay last night."

"Awww really?" Charlotte replied sympathetically. They weren't in the same classes except lunch and gym but they both got a lot of schoolwork over the week. "At least you're done with it right?"

"Yes, thank goodness!" Bethany breathed a sigh of relief. "So how are you doing?" She held up the eyeliner and started inking her eyelashes.

"I'm alright, I guess." Charlotte replied. She watched her friend coating her eyelashes wondering if she should do the same. Maybe that might make her more attractive. "Hey Bethany," She started hesitantly after a moment's silence filled the air between the two of them. "Do you think I'm—?"

"You're what?" Bethany wanted to know, checking her eyelashes in the mirror.

"Do you think a guy would ever find me attractive?" Charlotte blurted out truthfully. Maybe it would help if she sought Bethany for advice. Her best friend knew plenty about attracting a guy.

"Attractive?" Bethany asked like she was speaking alien. She knitted her eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah. Attractive." Charlotte repeated herself again adjusting the collar of her green plaid shirt. Her friend seemed thoughtful at this before she replied, "Yeah, I would think so. I mean I don't see how you're not."

"Okay. How do you know that I am? I mean physically." Charlotte went on, hoping her friend would say more.

"Honestly? Because keeping up with outer appearances shouldn't even matter." Bethany said stowing away her eyeliner. She paused before she dived in her bag for something else to cake her face with.

"Says the person who's decorating her face." Charlotte said noting her friend's apparent hypocrisy.

"Hooray! You caught me! Let's see what your prize is!" Bethany answered with a trace of sarcasm. "Honestly Charlotte, I do it for fun and not because I'm trying to impress anybody." There was a moment's pause before her eyes narrowed. "Wait. Does this by any chance have to do anything your crush on Mack?" She demanded.

"Yes. It does." Charlotte confessed, her cheeks turning the same shade as the flamingos sticker that clung to Bethany's messenger bag.

Bethany turned towards her. "Oh really? So when did this happen?" She cried, her eyes widening at this. Charlotte knew she always loved boy talk considering that she harbored a secret crush on their other best friend, Hubert Willows.

"Since a week ago when he started asking me." She turned back to her own mirror, fingering her muddy coated hair, wondering what it'd be like it if it was golden like Bethany's.

"I think that you definitely would be attractive in Mack's eyes because you have flaws." Bethany commented before puckering her lips in the mirror.

Flaws? They were attractive? Charlotte wasn't sure if she was hearing this right even. Yeah, it might be attractive if she were a fictional character in a story. She wasn't sure if it was cute in the real world. The only exception she could think was when it involved moments of endearments. "Are you sure?" She asked, still wondering if she heard that right.

"Yes, I'm positive. Now look in the mirror and tell me, what do you see?" Bethany replied, indicating to the mirror.

"I see that there's a scatter of acne on my face, my lips are chapped, and my cheeks resemble fat withered peaches." Charlotte stated pinpointing the flaws on her face after analyzing herself closely in the mirror.

"Congratulations! You just found the flaws of your outer appearance and they are indeed attractive." Bethany answered slightly content about this. _Flaws are attractive?_ Somehow this didn't ring with her. She wanted to point out that flaws were what made people back away or avoid the person like a plague.

"Um, I don't think that's attractive." Charlotte disagreed, checking the mirror for anymore cringe-worthy features on her face.

"You're not seeing where I'm going with this." Bethany said, getting out her pink-carnation lipgloss.

"Alright I'm not." Charlotte admitted with a sigh. "So, how is that a good thing?" There had to be more.

"It's a good thing because it makes you a human. That's what I was trying to get at." Bethany chirped, opening the cap of her lipgloss.

"As opposed to what exactly?" Charlotte prodded on, skeptically.

"You know that girl named Mary Sue? The one they talk about in fanfiction? If you were her, I'd hate you so much right now." Bethany shot back automatically.

"Okay, well I guess I can live with my flaws then." Charlotte agreed swiftly.

"That'd be a good start. I'd say go for it." Bethany answered, smearing her lipgloss on her face.

"How do you suppose I go on about it?" Charlotte queried, not satisfied with this answer.

"Easy. You stop worrying about what Mack thinks about you," Bethany responded simply.

'_Yeah. Easier said than done,'_ Charlotte thought to herself debating internally if she should take her advice or not.

"Look," Bethany said, turning to her after noting her friend's silence. "All I'm saying is that if you are your own person than Mack can see how _attractive _you really are." She paused, trying to contemplate what else she should mention next. "You may not think that you are but try thinking that you are when you're at your lowest point okay?"

"Okay, I'll try." Charlotte promised her but decided to end the conversation. The topic of being attractive just depressed her and she wanted to move onward with the conversation. One that didn't involve her beating up herself and feeling so down.

"Now that we're done with that, can I ask you something?" Bethany spoke up, handing her the lipbalm towards Charlotte.

"Go ahead and ask me anything." Charlotte replied taking the lipbalm from her and capping it open. There were so many things that they could talk about but today she hoped it was something Harry Potter related considering the two girls were both Potterheads and always found an excuse to talk about their favorite book series whenever they could. It didn't matter if the series came to a close back in 2011 because it would always live in their hearts until they would meet their own deaths.

"How come is it everytime I wait for my Hogwarts letter every August that it never comes?" Bethany whined.

"Probably because the Muggles, I mean our parents, have hid the letter from us?" Charlotte suggested.

Deep down, she knew the truth and it hadn't to do with their parents. The truth was that they were definitely Muggles along with billions of other people in this world and that they were far past the age of getting their owls.

"Oh my god. Did you just say the 'M' word?" Bethany shrieked loudly.

"Um yes, I did." Charlotte said, aware that her friend would react this way. Unlike her, Bethany believed that the wizarding world truly existed and claimed it was part of the reality. Due to this, she was very sensitive to two words: Muggle and reality.

"No, no, no, Charlotte! Our parents cannot do that!" Bethany screeched, a horrified expression playing on her face. "Do they not know that we're not the M word!"

"No, they don't." Charlotte fibbed, although she internally believed that it was true but didn't feel like disappointing her best friend at the moment.

"You're right about but no! They're fools! We're witches! Salem hasn't given us a letter yet." Bethany insisted snapping her blush cover shut.

"Salem? Why there?" Charlotte said with a frown.

"Uh, because we live in America and that's our school." Bethany reminded her wearily._Oh right'_ Charlotte thought glumly. It wasn't that she didn't like Salem, it just didn't appeal to her the way that Hogwarts did.

"Okay but let's focus on Hogwarts okay?" Bethany said noting her expression and trying to make the subject more cheery. "So going back to Hogwarts, what do you think it'd like if when get our Hogwarts letter?"

"Well..." Charlotte answered with a smile. "we'll probably be freaking about that. Get our school supplies to Diagon Alley including our wands, then travel to Diagon Alley, take the Hogwarts Express, and then we go to the Great Hall and get sorted into our houses which is—" She prompted waiting for her best friend to fill in the blank.

"Gryffindor! Go go go Gryffindor! Go go go!" Bethany cheered.

"Correct! So we'll be Gryffindors, meet the Golden trio, attend these awesome classes like Transfiguration and Defense Against The Dark Arts and?"

"When the time's right, while we are there, we could capture the hearts of Fred and George Weasley!" Bethany finished enthusiastically. Her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Oh my gosh, that'd be awesome!" Charlotte squealed, visualizing what they'd be like around in the presence of her fictional crushes, Fred and George Weasley. The thought of it made her blush when she pictured the twins standing in front of her baring identical and mischievous grins.

"Ooh! How?" Charlotte sounded eager. Her friend was always coming up with brilliant and unique ideas.

"Duh, with our own charms of course. They won't be able to resist us now." Bethany replied smugly. _Maybe with your own charm because the only thing I'm good at is being a sweetheart_, Charlotte thought to herself but grinned in approval as she said, "Hmmm. I like that idea."

"I knew you would but just an FYI, Fred's mine." Bethany claimed quickly.

"Fine," Charlotte agreed immediately. "He's all yours as long as I can have George."

"Yes you can. So Fred is mine and George is yours. Agreed?" Bethany said taking out her hand out.

"Agreed." Charlotte confirmed shaking it.

The two friends shook on it and burst into fits of giggles after this.

They would have stayed longer but suddenly a sound of thud of the door opening and they were interrupted by a slew of girls pouring into the bathroom. Charlotte watched as the girls were trying to clamber for the mirror next to theirs. The two silently knew that their time in the bathroom was done as they both shouldered their bags and headed for the exit before the situation with the girls fighting over a mirror got worse and they couldn't make their way through.

It was a quarter to seven and Charlotte noticed the hallways were filling up with other students as her and Bethany proceeded towards the cafeteria. It was their morning ritual that they would come here to hang out before class started. They found a seat nearby the garbage dispenser that was on the right end of the cafeteria but it was close to where the lunch line was. They both noticed several students and staff members were standing in line with food since the cafeteria was open during breakfast hours.

"Do you want anything?" Bethany asked once they set their items down and was about to head into the lunchline.

"Nah I'm fine. Thanks." Charlotte said before Bethany walked away. She turned just in time to spot a gangling boy walking in her direction. He was a pine-cone haired boy wearing a grey shirt, jeans, and black sneakers hoisting a backpack. It was her other best friend, Hubert Willows and waved to him.

"Hello Charsey." Hubert greeted her as he plopped into a seat across from her. "Where's Bethany?" He wanted to know when he glanced around. "Getting a doughnut." Charlotte replied with a nod towards the line.

Hubert nodded understandingly. "I'd eat doughnuts too but you know how my mom is…" He sighed as his sea-coded eyes gazed longingly at the direction of where the doughnuts were. Charlotte felt a gush of pity for him. Hubert's mom was a health nut who forced her children to eat right. The only time he could only have junk food were on special occasions

"Yeah, I already breakfast already." Hubert replied, steering his eyes away from the lunchline and zipped open his backpack.

"Oh. What'd you eat?" was all Charlotte could say as she watched him taking out a red notebook from his backpack. The sounds of chattering students nearby floated in the background.

"Oatmeal with eggs along with toast and milk on the side." He answered as he opened the notebook to a page that was filled with scribbles of numerous of puzzling Math equations. "So how are you?"

"I'm good." Charlotte replied, noticing many of them were already completed. There were only three equations left though. "Finishing last minute homework?"

"You bet. These are easy," Hubert answered, plugging the numbers onto his page.

"I thought you'd be done by all of it last night." Charlotte wondered if this was the only homework that he'd put off.

"I'm not always that studious if that's what Beth thinks." Hubert said with a hint of slight annoyance.

Ever since he was in Honor classes, many people including Bethany often loved to tease him about it. Despite the fact that he was book smart, he strongly hated admitting to this fact because of his humbleness and often tried not to show what IQ he had by trying to converse with words that people like Charlotte could understand.

"What were you doing then? Painting figures, playing video games, Tumblring, or watching movies?" Charlotte said, trying to figure out what other hobbies that he had. He'd probably been doing one of those things if not attending to his homework.

"I was actually re-reading one of the Harry Potter books." He confessed as he finished an equation and continued onto the next.

"Which one?" Chasey asked, now very interested where the conversation was going. Hubert was calm as he looked thoughtful at the equation he was trying to answer.

"Prisoner of Azkaban. I mean I read them all but I feel like it's one that I haven't read thoroughly enough." Out of all three of them, Hubert seemed to be more of a casual fan than a Potterhead that both Charlotte and Bethany were. He would often remain calm when they were jumpy when they cheered with joy at midnight premieres and book releases.

"Bethany will probably give you an award for that!" Charlotte smiled, pleased that her friend was giving Harry Potter a read-over again.

"Yeah, it'll be probably be between the lines of 'Congratulations, you tried'!" Hubert responded mimicking a game show host and Charlotte giggled at his sarcasm.

At that moment Bethany came back with a chocolate-creamed doughnut and milk, noticing Hubert, she smirked and asked, "Hey Hubert, reviewing your answers from last night's homework?"

"Funny you should say that. I'm actually finishing it up." Hubert replied, not glancing up from what he was doing.

"Really? Why's that?" Bethany sounded curiously as she chewed her doughnut. She gave a Charlotte a confused glance wondering if she knew the reason.

"He took some time off to re-read the year that 'Sirius-Black-could-have-had-at-the-normal-life- if-Peter Pettrigrew-wasn't-a-cowardly-jerk'." Charlotte said, reciting the nickname that they gave The Prisoner of Azkaban.

"Are you kidding me?" Bethany almost choked on her chocolate milk. "Seriously?" She turned towards Hubert and her eyes widened for the second time today.

"Seriously." Hubert confirmed. "I felt like I need to thoroughly process the story plus I think Sirius Black is a cool character." He said this trying to appear as if it were no big deal but Charlotte noticed his cheeks were faint red but remained tight-lipped about this observation.

"You do?" Bethany's expression turned into a mixture of shock and happiness. She jumped up from her seat. "Oh my gosh, yay! This makes me so happy!" She reached across the table and flung her arms around him. Charlotte watched quietly as the two hugged, noting how red their faces were even though Bethany was smiling while Hubert seemed startled by her actions.

They broke apart after a few second passed, Bethany finished her breakfast while Hubert was still trying to recover from what just happened but had the sense to stow away his notebook in his backpack. The two of them started conversing about the third Harry Potter book while Charlotte's mind drifted off to wishing Hogwarts was real. She imagined what it would be like if the three of them were sitting in the vast Great Hall for breakfast instead of this plain-Jane high school they were at. The bewitched ceilings that would matchthe skies outside. The wooden benches would probably feel more comfortable than the plastic chair that she sat on. The food would also be more hearty and healthier than the ones that the cafeteria served for sure. Speaking of which, Charlotte suddenly realized that today was the last day of August and tomorrow would mark the first day of September. It was the first day of Hogwarts. She was about to mention this to Bethany but the bell sounded overhead and the three of them picked up their belongings and started heading towards to their respective classes.

* * *

The day was almost over but by sixth period, Charlotte was exhausted. Her classes resulted not only in monotonous agony but also loads of assigned homework. From the worksheet on working with common denominators in remedial Algebra to reading two chapters and taking notes on it in her American Studies class. Thank goodness, lunch took place then, since this would give her brain, a chance to bathe in the break from all the knowledge that she had to absorb today. Once in the cafeteria, Charlotte dropped her belongings at a spot nearby the cafeteria entrance and headed towards the lunch line to get her lunch. The lunch pick-and-buying process took her awhile before she settled with pasta, salad, and chocolate milk. It seemed better compared to today's lunch special which was spoiled meatloaf oozing with a strange green-looking sauce.

Charlotte paid for her food and when got back to the lunch table, she found that her best friends hadn't arrived yet but she was joined by three of her other friends and also classmates: William (whom preferred to be called Will) and two identical, paternal ginger-haired twins by the name of Eddie and Julie. Despite them not being as close as her two best friends, they still hung out over the weekend and summers.

"Hey guys! How's it going?" Charlotte greeted them as she took a seat next to Julie.

"Hey Charsey. I'm good. How about you?" Julie greeted her back but wasn't looking at her since she was busy rummaging into her purse for her wallet.

"Good. Anything new with you guys?" She asked, turning to Will and Eddie.

"Not much," Will answered for himself and Eddie. "We were just discussing this Youtube video. It's called Totally Cool Me Club's California Chicks." Behind him, Eddie feigned puking as if he were sick at the mention of this.

"Have you seen it?" Julie asked her as she shook the coins from the wallet onto the table.

"Nope, I haven't." Charlotte replied guilty. Truth be told, she haven't had time to watch any Youtube videos since school started. Any free time she used for reading or bike riding around the neighborhood.

"Good for you. It's really not worth watching." Will advised her.

"Oh. Is that bad? If so, well what's it about?" Charlotte inquired forking her pasta.

"It's about these teenyboppers going all over California in different transportations, singing about how cool it is to be them." Julie summarized making air quotes at the words: singing and cool.

"Dear god, that video killed my brain cells, man." Eddie commented with a tiny shudder.

"Mine too. Their dances moves should win a spot on Dancing America." Will added sarcastically before he and Eddie headed towards the lunch line.

"It's stupid but you want to watch it for laughs, I'd recommend that you do." Julie said before she got up and followed after them.

Sitting alone, Charlotte consumed her pasta silently before her daydreams took over as the lunch room switched to Hogwarts. She found herself amongst Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were sitting nearby her. The ceiling resembling the clear skies that laid outside. She noticed that the empty spaces to her left were occupied by Fred and George Weasley who was now only sitting several inches away to her right and she found herself staring at George. The two of them were conversing with each other but she saw them smiling so whatever they were discussing must have involved a mischevious prank or an idea for their future joke shop.

Suddenly a loud voice spoke and the walls of Hogwarts starting shaking as if Hogwarts was crumbling, "Charlotte, hello, you in there?" it said and a giant hand was waving in front of her and the Great Hall dissolved quickly back into the reality of her bland cafeteria that she was sitting in. Bethany and Hubert were standing in front in front of her. It was Bethany who popped her out of her reverie.

"Oh hey, guys." Charlotte replied with a sheepish smile after being caught daydreaming again.

"Welcome back to Earth. Did you have a fun time in the wizarding world?" Hubert said, taking a seat across from her.

"Yeah, I did. I was at Hogwarts enjoying the view of Gred and Forge." Charlotte said dreamily with a sigh.

"How was the view?" Bethany wanted to know with a grin.

"Fantastic! You'd love it." Charlotte answered, feigning like she was watching something from a pair of binoculars, causing Bethany to giggle.

"I'm sure it was and yes, I know I would!" Bethany said with a wink and went to get her lunch.

Charlotte turned to Hubert who was fingering his brown bag lunch. "Your mom packed your lunch again?" She asked, wishing she could offer more than sympathy for him. She tried to buy sweets from the cafeteria but he firmly decline reminding her that he couldn't have any whatsoever.

"Yup. You know, just a typical ham and veggie sandwich with a side helping of carrots sticks, wheat crackers, and a healthy drink." He made a face after this.

"Yeah, sounds interesting." Charlotte said with a polite smile.

"So anything new so far?" Hubert said conversationally before he bit into his sandwich.

"There was a discussion about this Youtube video called California Chicks." Charlotte recalled attacking her pasta with the fork again. "Have you seen it?"

"Nah. I haven't been on Youtube much since school started and my classes started piling homework on me." Hubert admitted, \ biting into his sandwich.

"How's The Prisoner of Azkaban re-reading coming along?" She queried interested in where he was going with that. He always made interesting comments about the books be it good or bad while reading it.

"It's really good. I'm on the part when Ron is being dragged into the Whomping Willow by Sirius." He said with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"That's cool. So what do you make of it re-reading the second time?" Charlotte wanted to know. Maybe he picked up thing that she might of missed or he would analyze the time turner scene considering the fact that he was interested in time-traveling.

"I loved it. It's just as I remembered while reading it the first time." Hubert answered, hesitating between bites of his sandwich.

"So does that mean you know everything that happened in order and the details of the book?" Charlotte asked him.

"Yup." The way he said it seemed like wasn't a really huge deal after finishing his sandwich and taking out the carrot sticks.

"How so?"

Even she couldn't remember everything within the Harry Potter books unless she re-read them. The only things that stuck out to her were the important or interesting scenes but still it was impossible to paint all the pictures in detail. If she'd remembered anything, it was mainly the minor details.

"A lot of it is already stored in here," Hubert claimed, pointing to his brain.

"Wait. So do you have a photographic memory or something?" Charlotte pondered out loud, trying to confirm this.

"Yes, I do," Hubert said, picking up his carrot sticks. "Oh and before you accuse me of not telling you, nobody's ever asked." He shrugged, acting like it was not even a huge deal. Maybe to him, it was probably an everyday thing but this was news to her. One that she had to tell Bethany unless her other friend knew too.

"How much do you remember?" Charlotte demanded, wondering what other things he kept from her. This was definitely news to her.

"Well it depends, I mean I remember the things I read here and there but not everything. Yes, I have photographic memory but contrary to popular belief, just because we can store things in our head doesn't mean we can store all of it in our head. Sometimes we have to chronicle it in our journals or take pictures but it depends." Hubert explained after finishing his carrot stick.

'_Whoa. I didn't know that.'_ Charlotte thought. This was fascinating piece of knowledge that she hadn't known until now. It was helpful to have a friend who sprouted facts even if he didn't like to admit that he was somewhat of an intellect.

"Really? Wow that's so cool though…" Charlotte trailed off with a smile.

"Yeah…" He said but then glared down at the can that he got out of his brown bag. "I can't believe she packs me this stuff and expects me to drink this stuff." He complained, showing her the can. Charlotte saw that it had a picture of tomatoes and cranberries on it. The label read: _Hearth's Fruit's Unusual Veggie Fruit Beverage._ Hubert stuffed it back in his brown bag, got out his change, and told her that he was going to chocolate milk instead.

After he left, Charlotte pondered what it'd be like to have his photographic memory. She'd have an easier time with dealing with memorizing the contents of her textbooks. Not to mention it'd be a lot easier for her when it was time to take tests and quizzes. It'd also be easier to remember certain parts of Harry Potter too. By then, Eddie and Will both returned to the table with their lunch trays and sat down again.

"Any interesting conversations while we were gone?" Will wanted to know picking up the burger from his tray. Charlotte noticed he also got sea salt potato chips, a fruit snack, and milk on his tray. He must be hungry to get that much.

"Mostly talking about stuff," Charlotte responded, unsure if he and Eddie even liked Harry Potter. The two of them weren't big readers and usually only read books if mandatory.

"What kind of stuff?" Eddie wanted to know as he tore off his pizza crust. He glanced between her and Hubert.

"Just Harry Potter and photographic memory," Charlotte answered, watching Will taking a bit of his burger. It may of not appealed to her but he was probably found the burger wasn't spoiled or a health hazard.

"Oh man, I love Harry Potter!" Eddie replied, suddenly as if he were interested in where the conversation was going.

"You do?" Charlotte was skeptical about this considering he never mentioned this around her before. She was also surprised he or Will didn't make any comment regarding her friend's photographic memory.

"Yeah, read all seven books, seen all eight movies, went to the Exhibition on my vacation Seattle, and going to The Leavesden Studio Tour next year." He seemed smug about this.

"Lucky! I really want to go there but yeah…" Charsey said but didn't want to mention that her family couldn't afford the airfare to get to England. Eventually she'd have to try and enter a contest to get to go there.

"You'll get there eventually. And yeah, I can't say I'm a huge Potter fan as I read only the first three books and seen all the movies." Will spoke up after finishing up of his burger.

"Well now that we're talking about Harry Potter!" Charsey sounded excited. "What house do you think you'd be in if you were at Hogwarts?" She had never asked them this question and was curious to what they would say.

"Uh…" Will contemplated, trying to respond to this question. "I'm not sure to be honest. Let me think on that."

"Knowing Will, I'm positive that he would be a Hufflepuff." Eddie answered with a knowing smirk.

"Nah, I would say I'm a Ravenclaw." Will disagreed after slurping his milk. He seemed content with his own answer.

"You're not in honors class though." Eddie pointed out bluntly.

"Thank you for that reminder." Will responded with a tinge of sarcasm.

"What? It's true! You aren't! So you actually want to be a nerd now?" Eddie insisted.

"Oh so just because I want to be Ravenclaw means I want to be a nerd now? What if I'm smart in other ways that don't involve school work?" Will shot back glaring at his friend.

Charlotte didn't say anything but suddenly felt uncomfortable that the two of them seemed to be disagreeing. She noticed Hubert had returned to the table wondering if he had heard Eddie's comment but he was too busy scanning the contents of the milk carton and hadn't seem to notice what was happening. With an internal sigh of relief, she glanced back at Eddie and Will, who were quarreling with each other about smarts.

"It's where they go when they're in Hogwarts. I highly doubt they'd accept common sense or street smarts since the house is crowded with book smart people." Eddie answered back.

"I highly doubt that." Will disagreed shaking his head. He turned to Charlotte and asked her, "Ravenclaws aren't just for book smart people right?"

"No, they don't," Charlotte concurred, rolling her eyes at Eddie. "I'm sure other smarts counts towards becoming a Ravenclaw."

"Thank you for seeing my side of things," Will said with a grateful smile in her direction.

"You're welcome." Charlotte returned his smile but at the same time, noticed Eddie was stuffing his face with pizza, and found herself averting her gaze from him.

"What are you guys talking about?" Julie asked when she arrived. She seemed curious for she had just noticed her twin brother's haughty and Will's happy expression.

"What house we would be in if we are at Hogwarts." Will told her. Charlotte noticed Eddie dived in for his sister's fries.

"Ooh cool!" Julie said as she sat down, unaware of what her brother was doing as she turned to Charlotte with an interested expression.

"And that Eddie's convinced that Will's a Hufflepuff even though Will thinks he'd be in Ravenclaw." Charlotte told her innocently.

"I was kidding! Geez woman, you take everything seriously." Eddie cried glaring at her before fishing his sister's fries again.

"Eddie! Stop stealing my own fries! Why don't you get your own?" Julie shrieked as she saw this and tried to swat his hands away but he already put some on his tray. He pushed it away before she could retrieve them.

"So what were you guys talking about?" Hubert asked plugging himself in the conversation. He had been sipping his milk and was staring in the direction of the lunchline for what seemed more like a second as if he were lost to what was going on around him. He seemed to come out of his dazed expression when he heard Julie telling her brother not to steal her fries.

"What Hogwarts houses we'd be in." Charlotte said, well aware at who he might be looking at from where he was sitting. "So Julie, what house are you in?" She responded turning to her.

"Definitely Gryffindor!" Julie responded automatically after gulping her fruit punch. "And NOT just because of my hair color." Julie replied, twirling her natural red curls as if they were a prize procession and Charlotte tried not to stare enviously at how beautiful it was.

"Aren't you scared of spiders though?" Eddie said with a nasty smirk on his face and Charlotte saw Will and Hubert glancing over at Julie nervously like they knew what was coming.

"Of course I am! And so was Ron Weasley! And look what House he's in!" Julie insisted hotly before she picked up her pizza.

"What's this about Ron Weasley?" Bethany asked as she arrived back at the table with her lunch. Her tray consisted of pizza, salad, and orange soda.

"I was just explaining to my brother that I can be in Gryffindor and even though I'm scare of spiders, so was Ron." Julie explained to her with a satisfied smile.

"Oh my gosh! Yes!" Bethany cried at this. "10 points for Gryffindor." The two of them highfived each other. Charlotte saw Eddie shaking his head as he went back to his lunch.

"So what house would you be in?" Hubert said to Eddie.

"Ooh! I know what house Eddie's in!" Julie sung as she bounced in her seat before her brother could answer. She ignored the stares that she was getting from the other people nearby who noticed this.

"Don't you dare say Gryffindor or I'll disinherit you as my twin sister." Eddie began, for he too, had red hair like his twin was something that affected him whenever people asked if he was related to the Weasleys or not in which he had to remind them that they were from England and he was an American and not English.

"Don't disinherit me! Please!" Julie wailed sounding apologetic. Despite the fact that they bickered often, the two got along fairly well even though Charlotte sometimes never knew when he was joking or not by the way he responded to things.

"Wait why would you disinherit her" Will asked curiously looking up from his lunch.

"I was joking, Will." He turned to the others. "Anyway, I'm nothing like the Weasleys. I mean just because my hair matches theirs, it doesn't nor should it mean that I'm related to them." Eddie told them bluntly after he sipped his coke.

"He has a point though. Your hair color doesn't define what house you are in." Hubert piped up in agreement.

Eddie gestured to him as if to say, 'See this guy understands me!' and Charlotte noticed Bethany biting her lip as if to stop herself from grinning. "That is correct, Hubert," Eddie said patting him on the back as if he just won his seal of approval. "I'm actually more of a Slytherin." He made a hissing sound after this.

"Slytherin's a good house." Will concurred finishing his burger while everybody else murmured in agreement that the house suited Eddie perfectly.

"And what House would you three be in?" Julie asked turning to Charlotte and her friends.

The three friends looked at one another to who would go first. Charlotte and Hubert both waved at Bethany to go first since Hubert had a 'Ladies first' rule implanted in his brain while Charlotte always let Bethany take the lead.

"I'm pretty sure I'd be a Gryffindor. Scarlet's my favorite color, and I got enough nerve and bravery." Bethany answered confidently for herself.

"Gryffindor or Hufflepuff," Charlotte answered after draining much of her chocolate milk.

"You're definitely more of Hufflepuff though since you're such a thoughtful sweetheart." Julie stated eagerly. "Right guys?" She asked turning to her twin brother and Will. The two of them immediately nodded in agreement with claims of "Yeah! Julie's right!" and "Definitely a sweetheart!" causing Charlotte's cheeks to flush at the praise that her friends were giving her.

"And...what about you Hubert?" Julie asked, turning to him. Hubert who had been paying attention but also pondering what to do with his vegetable drink glanced up. "Come again?" He said when he heard his name.

"What house are you in?" Will reminded him staring at the drink in his hand. He made a face when he realized what it was.

"I think I'm a Hufflepuff," Hubert replied aware of their stares. "I'm quite persistent and I'm really friendly." He explained with a nervous chuckle.

"Hmmm seems legit." Eddie accepted contently, surprising Charlotte who expected him to be skeptical about this. He probably hadn't been aware of Hubert's intellectuality

At that moment the bell yelled at them for all of them to split up to get going to their classes. Julie, Eddie, and Will headed off to class in one direction while Bethany and Charlotte waited for Hubert who was debating what to do with his fruit drink but finally decided to stuff it in his brown bag and figure out he'd deal with it later.

The three friends all headed towards the same class as they headed towards Computer Graphics class which was the only class that the three of them had together. Charlotte was immensely relieved that Hubert's self-esteem wasn't damaged by Eddie about his intellectuality but couldn't help but notice that Bethany hadn't mentioned anything about it either which struck her as odd because she'd never miss a chance to tease Hubert whenever she found a chance to.

* * *

When the bell dismissed them out of ninth period, Charlotte was immensely relieved when she walked out the Girl's Locker Room. Gym was her last day of class and the class had to run eight laps around the track field. When she reached her locker getting ready to head home, she almost like she was collapsing after she opened her locker but remembered that she'd have to wait until she got on the bus to do so. Instead she found herself staring at the textbooks sitting at the bottom of the locker and debated between what books she needed.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Hubert exclaimed alarmed at her sweaty state.

"We had to run ten laps on the track today in Gym." Charlotte said, wondering how many surprise laps they had to endure before she was graduated high school.

"Well, I'm sure eight laps isn't _that _bad—" Hubert started to say but stopped when he saw when she glared at him. Did he not understand that just because she wasn't on the Cross Country or Track like he was that not everybody was made for running?

"Please spare me the details. You know I'm not the athletic one here." Charlotte reminded him. She hoped he also wouldn't sprout out facts about it being healthy for her because she already got enough of it from her teachers and her parents.

"Sorry. Gym class made you do running laps and they were exhausting weren't they?" He started again. "Better?" He wanted to know watching her debate whether she should take her Chemistry or Remedial Algebra textbook with her.

"Better, thanks. And yes, it was definitely exhausting. So how was Driver's Ed?" Charlotte agreed as she put the Chemistry textbook back into her locker.

"Alright," Hubert said, his eyes peeling elsewhere like he was distracted. "We are watching videos so far but the teacher said we'll start driving shortly. So that should be fun." He seemed somewhat nervous about this.

"Well, I'm sure you'll do fine." Charlotte reassured him noticing his expression. "I mean once you get a lot of practice with driving. It'll easy peasy and—"

"And I'll get through it right?" Hubert finished for her with a smile.

"Yes that," Charlotte answered back before diving towards her locker again to find what journals that she should take home or not.

"Hey guys. How's it going?" She heard Bethany's voice floating above her.

"Good, how about you?" Charlotte heard Hubert saying as she stuffed her journals into her backpack.

"Alright, but I have to go to after school tutoring for Math today." Bethany said, crinkling her nose with distaste.

"Ew Math. I wish there was a substitute for that." Charlotte spoke up as she stood up again. Like her best friend, she loathed Math but not because she struggled through it but more of the fact that numbers and equations always gave her a headache.

"Tell me about it. So how are you?" Bethany wanted to know leaning against the locker next to hers. She took out a toothpick and started picking at it drawing stares from nearby but ignored them.

"Fine but honestly P.E. was exhausting," Charlotte confessed after trying to stuff her journals into her backpack. It seemed like she'd be carrying a load home today which wasn't good for her back so she took the ones she didn't need and placed them back into the locker.

"That sucks. Do you think a three-way phone call tonight would make up for it?" Bethany offered with a sympathetic look.

The three-way phone call was a daily routine to getting by school nights. It was something that they did whenever they could get their homework done before ten and the call would go to sometime around midnight.

"Yeah, if I get my homework done." Charlotte said, unsure of how much homework she got today hoping wasn't too hard or kept her up until past midnight.

"How about you, Hubert?" Bethany asked, disposing the toothpick in a nearby garbage bin.

"Yeah, sounds good with me."

"Okay I'll call you guys around ten." Bethany confirmed, before picking up her bag and walking away.

Once she had finished packing for home, Charlotte and Hubert headed towards the buses. They got on the bus taking seats across from each other. Hubert took out _The Scarlett Letter_ and started reading it while Charlotte who sat across from him, glanced out the window.

Outside her window, she spotted the sets of cotton textured clouds that floated across the blue sky. It was a gorgeous sight. This was the great part was that it was part of her reality. But she often wondered if behind the clear blue sky, there might be another sky aligning with the one she saw. If so, did it specifically lead to another world? The wizarding world perhaps? There it was again. Her own thoughts focusing on the existence of the wizarding world but it wasn't her fault that couldn't help it. It always struck her mind whenever she watched the skies. '_Too bad I'm a muggle living in this world.' _She couldn't help but think when the bus started rumbling to life.

While it did hurt to realize that the wizarding world wasn't tucked away in secrecy, as she always hoped, it didn't mean that that she couldn't fantasize the thought of it becoming conceivable. It was either that or trying to cope with her monotonous Muggle life. One that could easily trade her soul for if she was offered the chance.

* * *

**A/N:** That's it for the first chapter. I'm aware it's probably a snoozer but I swear that there will be future chapters after this that gets more exciting. Also, it'd mean a lot to me if there were feedback as to how I'm doing—any review is fine! I don't mind constructive criticism too but please don't be too harsh about it. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: September Wish**

Once she was home, Charlotte was met with an empty house since both of her parents both worked while her younger sister, Beatrice was at Art club wasn't around either since she was at school at Art Club. The clock read 2:45 and she knew that she had plenty of time to get started on her homework.

By the time, dinner rolled around, Charlotte had finished tackling all of her homework which took much effort especially Math since it fried her brain by the time she sat down at the table. Today's dinnertime meal roasted chicken with rice and vegetables. There was much clanking and forking of the plates today was mainly due that while Charlotte got along with her family, she'd notice that her parents seemed to favor Beatrice more and felt distant from the three of them.

"So how was your day today?" Mrs. Seylor asked after helping herself to the salad that Beatrice passed her.

"Alright. Not much but we ran ten laps in Gym today though." Charlotte told them excluding the part where she daydreamed about the wizarding world. Her family never really understood her Harry Potter obsession.

"How was that?" Her mother asked her curiously, raising her eyebrow.

"Exhausting but I'm done with it for now." Charlotte said watching Beatrice cutting her roasted chicken into neat pile on her plate.

"Did you finish all your homework?" Mr. Seylor asked her.

"Yes, I finished my homework." She said answering her father's question.

Her parents seemed to approve of this because they both smiled and turned to her younger sister who had short ink-tinted hair, wore round blue glasses, and while she was freshmen, she seemed more like a middle schooler. "What about you, Beatrice?" Mrs. Seylor asked Beatrice with an interested smile.

"My day was good, thanks. We did charcoal sketches on our favorite objects. I did one on that watch you and dad gave me for my tenth birthday." Beatrice answered with a tone of what seemed superiority.

"Ah that sounds marvelous honey," Her mom sounding proud and unaware of how her daughter was sitting up. She seemed more interested in the fact that her daughter was investing time in art.

"How is the charcoal piece coming along then?" Her dad wanted to know.

"Mrs. Burns told me that it was good. She loved the way I shaded the corners of the watch and—" but Beatrice didn't get to finish because Charlotte just cleared her throat.

When they all turned to her, Charlotte said, "Um, can I be excused? I'm done." She ignored the glare that Beatrice was shooting her.

"Are you sure you don't want dessert?" Mr. Seylor asked in confusion.

True, she loved chocolate pudding. Normally she would have stuck around to eat it but today she felt her hunger died down when her parents were too busy showering Miss Artistic Favorite with adoration.

"Yes, I'm sure." She replied and went to drop the dishes at the sink and headed upstairs to her room where she shut the door.

When she was inside within the confines of her thick wall, she flopped backwards onto her bed as she took her pillow and screamed into it. It upset her that her parents were more interested in her younger sister's artistic talent than her older daughter's welfare. Why couldn't life be fair? How did she get stuck with these parents anyway? Her mind went back to Harry Potter series and she related to Ron Weasley with being the underappreciated one in the family but at least his parents loved him. Why couldn't she have parents like Molly and Arthur? _'So what if they are strict? At least you'll know how much they love you'_ Charlotte thought as she glared at the ceiling in her room.

Once that was done with her thoughts, she found that the clock turned eight; she decided to kill time by watching the Youtube video that her friends were conversing about at lunch. It turned out the video was torturous and "brain-cell killing" like Eddie had described. The girls in the video reminded of her of tripping ostriches by the way they tried to showcase their dance moves. She also flinched at the auto-tuned voices that poured out of her headphones. She wondered how this video gained popularity even. Mid-way through it, Charlotte exited out of the video knowing her brain cells would be thanking her silently for this.

Around ten, as she was browsing through the fanart of Fred and George Weasley on the internet, her cellphone vibrated and she knew it was time for the three-way phone call with her friends to start. This would take her mind further off of what happened during dinnertime tonight. Or hopefully so.

"Hello?" She answered after picking up on the second ring.

"Hey Charlotte, you present?" Bethany wanted to know.

"Hey Bethan, yes I am." Charlotte responded wondering what today's discussion topic would be about. She hoped it wasn't about anything with family because she'd go into a rant that'd probably wake them up.

"Good. Let me just call Professor Persistent." She heard Bethany say calling Hubert by one of his many nicknames that she gave him.

It took a few rings before Hubert picked up and Bethany asked both of them what was happening and how they were doing.

"Okay I guess," Charlotte lied not wanting to mention dinnertime. "I'm done with all my homework although the math equation almost killed me but I survived." She glanced down the worksheet where she finished her equations specifically at her messy handwriting. Hopefully her when she turned it in the next day, her teacher could even read it.

"Whoo! You show Math who's in charge!" Bethany cheered while Hubert clapped in the background softly.

"How was Math tutoring?" Charlotte pondered out loud, recalling that her friend had Math tutoring earlier.

"It went well! I actually understand multiplying and dividing fractions better now." Bethany chirped happily.

"That's great Bethan! Glad to hear! What about you Hubert?" Charlotte asked, hearing sounds of scribbling from his end.

"I'm done except I'm tackling this English paper that's due two weeks from now since I have time." Hubert told them with a frustrated sigh.

"What's the project?" Bethany queried while Charlotte heard the creaking of her bed from her end.

"I have to write an analysis of this book called _The Scarlett Letter_. Basically not only what it's about but also themes, motifs, symbolisms, and any metaphors and similes we can find that stands out to us. I'm doing a rough draft right now but I planned to type the final draft sometime this week or next week." He explained matter-of factly.

"Ooh being a studious Ravenclaw are we?" Bethany teased him. Charlotte wondered if she had taken the lunch break off to not tease him and rather instead do so later when everybody else wasn't around.

"If this phone call is about me being book-smart, I'm hanging up." Hubert threatened sounding annoyed.

"Seriously Bethan," Charlotte chided because her friend was being rude. "Can we please talk about something else?" She knew her friend was just joking but she had a bad feeling that Hubert wasn't in the mood for any teasing of being an intellect or Ravenclaw for the matter.

"Please," Hubert added as if he were relieved at Charlotte for mentioning this. She heard a ruffle of paper in the background aware that he was probably trying to finish his homework.

"Okay fine," Bethany agreed but Charlotte could imagine her rolling her eyes from her end. "Let's discuss something else, starting now."

"So what's the conversation topic? You never told us." Hubert reminded her.

"Wishes. I mean, if you want to call it that." Bethany automatically responded. Wishes? They usually didn't discuss wishes much unless they were outside watching a meteor shower occurring or were watching the stars outside. This only took place when school wasn't in session.

"Okay. So why wishes?" Hubert asked curiously not sure what the conversation would lead to.

"Why not?" Bethany retorted back defensively as if he were mocking her.

"Because we're making wishes tonight that's why." Charlotte told him, having an idea of what her friend was planning. She wasn't sure what but it'd probably have to do with the discussion in the bathroom.

"What's the reason?" Hubert questioned. They could hear him crumbling a piece of paper in the background.

"There's no legit reason other than for fun!" Bethany shot back annoyed by his question.

"So we just wish upon a star right?" Hubert said.

"No! You're getting very cold." Bethany uttered sarcastically and Charlotte imagined her rolling her eyes.

"Okay so we wish upon the star tonight for whatever we want." He paused as if he were trying to figure out what to say next.

Charlotte took this time to stare at the wall of her room that was coated with posters. Most of them were Harry Potter posters from movie posters to promotions of the books released. There were some of non-HP posters of her favorite movies and bands. Searching through them, her gazed landed at a Deathly Hallows Part 2 poster of Fred and George. She knew what she'd wish for.

"Anyway," Bethany broke the silence when nobody said anything. "Hubert has the right concept. All we're going to do is make a September wish and yes, in September."

"September wish?" Charlotte and Hubert echoed in unison both sounding confused and intrigued at this.

"Why September?" Hubert asked as he was still working on his homework assignment in the background.

"Because it's an awesome month, that's why..." Bethany answered him and continued to explain the concept of what a September wish was. "It's also something that I'm thinking about starting as a tradition among the three of us."

Tradition? They didn't usually have many traditions between exception of hanging out on Fridays after school, star-time gazing on a summer nights, and the three-way phone call that was currently taking place.

"It sounds like a bland tradition if you asked me," Hubert spoke up not sure if he favored her idea. "Don't we get to make wishes anytime we want during the night?"

"Thank you Professor Ruin-It-For-Everybody for that kind reminder." Bethany snapped, unappreciative of his response.

"Well it does because that's what a lot of people do! How is this any different?" Hubert insisted, trying to defend his own reasoning. He went back to scribbling in the background.

"Fine! Do you have any better ideas on how to make tonight more memorable?" Bethany shot back at him as if she just kicked her grandma.

"Guys! Stop bickering!" Charlotte chided at the both of them. They both stopped and apologized to her knowing that she hated when they bickered. "Why don't we just go with Bethany's September wish idea and if that doesn't work out, we won't do it again." She suggested.

Although she agreed with Hubert that anybody can wish upon a star anytime that they wanted to but she also wanted to go along with Bethany's idea. Truth be told, she hadn't wished upon an actual star since she was a child. This time she'd make a wish with her friends there even if they weren't physically side by side with her.

"For Charsey's sake, we put aside from different opinions. Agree?" Bethany said to Hubert trying to sound like she was making up with him.

"For Charsey's sake. Agreed." Hubert approved. "So how does this wish making process go?"

"It's simple. Once midnight rolls around, we wish for whatever we want and we wish it because—" Bethany proposed but didn't finish because at that moment the two girls heard a sound of somebody tripping on something followed by piles of compact discs cases falling in the background.

"Oh my god! Hubert! Are you okay?" Bethany shrieked worriedly. He didn't respond although they heard movement of objects being pushed away, a commotion of Hubert's parents asking him what happened, and who was he talking to.

"Do you think he's okay, Charsey?" Bethany's voice sound close to panic.

"I'm sure he's alright…" Charlotte responded but was also worried about Hubert's welfare too.

Then they heard Hubert pick up his phone again. "Hey you girls there?" He wanted to know and they replied they were. Bethany asked for the third time if he was okay.

"Yeah, I'm cool," He groaned after a few minutes passed. "I tripped on something. I forgot I had it there."

"What did you have there?" Bethany demanded, trying to find the item responsible for Hubert's fall.

"Oh. My box full of figurines. I went to get something from my backpack. Along the way, I tripped on them. My room's a mess. So mom wants me to clean it over the weekend." Hubert answered calmly although he was startled by Bethany's tone of voice.

While he picked up the figurines in the background, Charlotte drew her curtains aside and gazed out the window that revealed a shadowy painted sky above. She could make out the faint stars that glowed overhead. It was awfully a spectacular sight outside if much of the city lights weren't shining over the stars. She wondered what it'd be like to fall onto the inky sky.

"Guys. Don't you two notice how pretty the night sky is?" She asked them. Nobody spoke as they were also staring at up at the sky.

"Yeah…" Bethany's voice faltered. "It's gorgeous."

"Hey," Hubert crowed after he was done picking up his figurines in his room and storing them into his box. "I got a discussion topic!"

"Ooh what?" Charlotte and Bethany were now intrigued since he was good with conversational topics.

"What's the weirdest wish that you guys ever made when you were younger?" This was an interesting question considering that they never talked about this kind of thing before let alone stayed on the discussion of wishes.

"Why don't you tell us yours?" Charlotte suggested.

"Yes, tell us. I'll try and think of mine." Bethany agreed.

"Alright. Here's mine..." Hubert started. "so when I was younger, I once made a wish about rubber ducks covering the sky and that they would drop lollipops from the sky from their beaks."

This amused both girls because they both collapsed into breathless giggles. Charlotte tried hard not to think about the fact that somewhere in the world that somebody would freak out at the sight of a rubber ducks raining lollipops causing her to laugh even harder than before.

"What? I thought it'd be cool." Hubert exclaimed when he heard his friends giggling.

"How old were you?" Bethany asked him, trying not to collapse into another set of laughter but failed.

"Uh about 5 or 6 years old, give or take." Hubert replied when she stopped giggling.

They continued with the conversation of their wishes that they made when they were younger. Bethany's wish was how she wanted to fly to a land filled with raining Skittles and flying fishes that were waiters while Charlotte was about living in Candyland with her favorite animals and she'd be there forever so that she could only be an only child. The conversation had stopped when Bethany noted that time now read: 11:58 and soon they'd have to wish.

Charlotte had so many things she wanted to wish especially the existence of the Weasley twins to be real but she also wanted to be a witch and go to Hogwarts too.

"Do you two have your wishes ready?" Bethany asked them after a minute.

"Indeed I do," was Hubert' answer and there was a sound of a blinds being pushed upward from his end.

"I think so." Charlotte said, trying to think about to wish for at that moment.

Okay what wish could she make? She glanced at the Harry Potter merchandise in her room from her books to her Gryffindor scarf that laid on her dresser. Then suddenly she knew what to wish for and was ready when the clock struck midnight.

"It's time! Make a wish!" Bethany announced excitedly. Charlotte gazed into the starry sky, the wish now written out in her mind after much thought was placed into it:

_'Dear whoever grants wishes. Can I just have something exciting happen to me in my life? Maybe a chance to relieve Harry Potter's adventures and maybe find a way to contribute to the wizarding world but instead of reading about it, it'll happen to me for once? Please? Please? Please? Maybe also for one of the Weasley twins to fall for me? Oh and can my friends come with me too? That'd be great! Thanks!'_

There, she had completed her September wish and just in time too because when she glanced her analog clock, it read: 12:01. It was probably too much but if any of it came true that'd be great.

"So you guys made your wishes then?" Bethany asked them afterwards.

"Yup." Charlotte and Hubert answer in unison.

"Good, so what did you—" but at that moment, Hubert let out a yawn causing a chain reaction that ended with Bethany.

"I think we're all getting tired." Bethany commented but then she started to yawn again. "You know what? You guys don't have to tell me what your wishes tonight but how about tomorrow we'll discuss it. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good. Thanks Beth." Hubert said sounding as if he was happy that the conversation was coming to a close. He probably had his English paper to get through the night, Charlotte thought recalling the homework he got.

"Yeah, same here. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow." Charlotte agreed about to hang up when Bethany hastily reminded them that they'd be biking tomorrow after school to Chippy's Coffeehouse tomorrow for their Friday hangout.

After they said their goodnight and goodbyes, Charlotte clambered onto her bed, feeling exhausted. Yet sleep didn't come yet so she found herself staring at one of the posters on her wall. It was the movie poster of Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone that she bought online. She pictured what it'd be like if her wish actually came true. The thought of being in his story coming to life would not only be a wonderful dream come true but also life-changing and a gateway from the world she lived in. She already had a reason to leave this place. However, before her thoughts expanded on that, sleep enclosed her and before she knew it, her body landed in the darkness of an unfamiliar location that brought her into a dream.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: A Peculiar Note**

Despite the fact that it had been dim and the only light source came from lightning that pierced the sky outside, Charlotte found herself moving inaudibly in shadows. Wherever she was, it had to expandable and grand because when she stepped on the ground, her shoes clanked against it. Apart from the walls that echoed the clanks of her shoes, this place, wherever she was, appeared eerie despite its almost tranquil like. This didn't last long, however, when she heard muffled sobs coming from somewhere within reach. Glancing behind her, she had no idea if she was alone or if anybody else was there in the room. She checked nervously for any movement behind her but the only thing she heard were the sobs and crackling of the thunder outside.

Charlotte moved along as her fingers enclosed around an object. Wait a minute an object? She held it up and saw from the flash of lightning that it was a stick. A wooden one that was also pointy and decorated with elaborate bumps. Wait bumps? No! This couldn't be a stick! It a wand! It had to be. So testing her theory out, Charlotte cried, "Lumos!" with the shake of her hand and soon light drew from the end of what seemed to be the end of it. She was right! It was a wand! Now that she got that out of the way, she continued to move forward.

The glowing of the light reflected upon what seemed to be a castle corridor. She knew this by spotting the tall windows and torchlights that weren't lit clung to the solid walls. _'Alright, now let's see where the sobs are coming from.'_ Charlotte thought as she pointed her wand finding sets of wooden doors with dusty latches on them. There were at least four doors right in front of her. She wasn't sure which one to open since they seemed inviting. The answer came to her when she heard the sobbing! There that door on the left!

Latching the door open, Charlotte headed inside and found herself facing an unfamiliar room. It had mirrors and sinks like the ones at her school, adjacent to that were the wooden stalls. Atop was a placeholder for a torch and a tall window that she couldn't reach. One of stalls was closed but Charlotte heard sobs coming from within. Okay, so this was the girl's bathroom.

"Hello? Anybody in here" Charlotte called into the room. There was no response as the sobs continued. She paused in front of the closed stall unsure as to whether knock or not. What if the person needed their time alone? But what if she needs help? She couldn't help but think. Fine, she'd try knocking and see if she could have a conversation with her.

"Hello. Are you in there?" Charlotte tried again but this time knocking the stall. The sobs faltered after she knocked. _'Good I'm making progress.' _Charlotte thought hearing this but at that moment, a girl's voice yelled at her, "Go away!" causing her to freeze noting that whoever was behind the stall had a different accent her and that it sounded slightly like an English one.

"Excuse me," Charlotte started gently after the sobs resumed. "Why are you crying?" She had no idea why the girl was even crying but she did want to communicate with her to ask where she had landed. It was possible that she might know where.

"I told you! Please go away! Can't you see that I want to be left alone?" The girl shouted, even more upset that she hadn't left.

"Why? Are you sure you okay?" Charlotte called back, refusing to leave the spot. What if this girl needed a helping hand or words of wisdom? She sounded truly miserable.

"I-I don't want to talk about it!" The girl responded with a choke. "What good would that do?" She didn't want to force her to talk to her if she didn't want to. When she walked away from the wooden stall, however, something inside had told her that the girl might need a friend despite her refusal for help. So Charlotte found herself standing in front of the wooden stall. How could she get the girl to talk to her? It seemed obvious that she was suffering but she didn't have to be alone.

"Look I know you want to be left alone," Charlotte started unsure of what to say next. "But I just want help." It was the truth after all. For some reason, she felt like she wanted to hug her as if to tell her that whatever pain she was going through wouldn't stay forever and that she'd be alright.

"How can you help me if you don't like me?" The girl sniffed. Okay... what? This sounded very odd considering the two had never spoken to each other before. Charlotte wondered if something happened to her before she came in.

"What do you mean?" Charlotte answered baffled by this.

"Oh if you must know! I'll tell you." The girl finally said and launched into a story of how she came to Hogwarts and while she exceeded in her classes, her peers treated her differently. She mentioned that the girls in her house tolerated her just because she was in the same house as them and then something about the boys not wanting to hang around her because one of them called her a nightmare.

"Well, I don't know you therefore I can't hate you." Charlotte replied. Whoever was in there probably didn't realize that there might be people who did like her. It was probably the wrong people that she mentioned who seemed to hate her and also what idiot would think the girl was the nightmare?

The sobbing wavered. "Are you sure about that?" The sniffing girl continued. Charlotte found a pair of brown eyes was staring out the hole of the wooden stall. "Yes, I'm positive. I don't know you." Charlotte said when she glanced back at it.

"No, I believe you. You seem er, quite different," was all she said. _'It's probably my accent' _Charlotte thought to herself as the sounds of door unlatching met her ears. She stepped back as the door slowly opened forward and the girl who came into view.

Charlotte noticed that she had bushy brown hair, was wearing what seemed to be a school uniform but her tie was a striped color of scarlet and gold, and her face was tearstained. She stared up at Charlotte with curiosity but also slight suspicion.

"Are you Hermione Granger?" Charlotte blurted without a moment's thought. The tie was something that made her suspect and not to mention the girl seemed no younger than eleven.

"Y-yes. How did you know?" Hermione scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "Wait. Are you a Gryffindor as well?" Charlotte was about to tell her no that she wasn't when Hermione indicated to look down and so she did where she found that the light purple pajamas that she wore to bed had vanished. Instead she was wearing a uniform and also a necktie that were actually identical to Hermione's. Her clothes must of changed when she found herself in what was Hogwarts.

"I-I guess so…" Charlotte squeaked wondering how did this happen.

"Excuse me but who are you? I don't think I've seen you before." Hermione asked, still staring at her. True that they never ever met but this could change.

"Oh, I'm C-Charlotte but you can call me Charsey." Charlotte heard herself saying. "Um it's nice to meet you?" She offered her hand to shake hoping that Hermione didn't find anything strange about her apart from her accent.

Hermione stared at it blankly for a couple of seconds but then a tiny grin formed on her lips, "Pleasure to meet you, Charlotte." She replied as she shook it. So far things were turning out good. She had managed to meet and help Hermione at once. She still saw that Hermione seemed to be feeling better. She was about to ask if she was okay when there was a loud set of thumps coming from the outside of where they are.

"Oh no…" Charlotte heard herself say for she had recognized what it was. It was hard to explain how she knew what was coming but something was telling her.

"What?" Hermione wanted to know. There was an edge of uneasiness in her voice.

The girls' bathroom opened just as thunder cracked with audacity in the background. The lightning reflected the shape of what seemed to be one of the biggest creatures that Charlotte ever saw before her own eyes. The creature was an ugly shade of rocks from head to toe. It also had a bald hand and was wearing a dirt-casted vest with a club that reminded her of a matching accessories she'd read about in fashion magazines which was something Charlotte knew that the creature wouldn't care about. She didn't need to ask Hermione what it was because apparently she knew that the monstrous creature standing in front of them was a mountain troll. The one that she read about in the first book of Harry's many journeys.

The creature spotted the two girls and made its way towards them. Hermione screamed as she ducked under the sink to escape it but Charlotte felt herself being imbedded on the ground just as the mountain troll lunged its club at her while Hermione's screams filled the background. The troll would have of clobbered her if Charlotte hadn't the sensed to duck sideways at the last minute. Within seconds, a shadowy of nothingness surrounded her and the scene in front of her vanished along with Hermione's screams and the troll's roar.

With a jolt, Charlotte's eyes flickered open and she expected to feel pain but there was none as her eyes found the tranquility of the darkness from her room. The only exception was the moonlight shimmering nearby from between her curtains. A huge relief surged through her as she realized that she was back in her room. '_Good. It was just a dream_.' She thought to herself but this wasn't to say that she hadn't felt slightly guilty that she left Hermione alone with the troll.

Nevertheless a dream was only a dream and Charlotte knew she shouldn't dwell her time on thinking about it before her head hit the pillow. Shutting her eyes again, Charlotte hoped that sleep would whisk her away again. Only this time, she hoped it'd be to a more pleasant dream in contrast to the last. She could certainly use one anyway.

The very next afternoon after another work loading yet uneventful day at school, Charlotte, Hubert, and Bethany biked to Chippy's Coffee House for their Friday hangout. The three friends had planned to hang out there after there after school was over. After they got their drinks and found a table nearby an unlit fireplace, Charlotte told them about the dream that she had the previous night in hopes they might have been able to explain something about it. She tried to avoid thinking about it all day but it crept on her consistently. They were the only two people whom she could talk freely about this kind of stuff.

"Whoa, that sounds like a cool dream. Did you actually feel like you met Hermione Granger?" Bethany commented after sipping her iced vanilla latte. She seemed intrigued by the dream.

"Yeah, I did." Charlotte confessed fiddling the straw of her iced mocha, thinking back to her interaction with Hermione. It felt was surreal yet the two never even met in real life.

"Do you think it could possibly be a vision?" Bethany asked, her eyes lit up and she leaned in even more eager in the conversation. The way she spoke indicated that she was hoping that this was true.

"I don't think so but it felt like that." Charlotte explained truthfully unsure about the whole thing. As much as she wanted her wish to come true, deep down, she knew it would never ever happen. Maybe it could happen in the pages of the books or onscreen of movies and television shows but this was reality as much as she hated to admit it.

"Do you think it could be the fact that your dream is due to your thoughts focused heavily on your wish?" Hubert piped up. He had been quietly sipping his iced green tea and wasn't saying much though he was listening.

Bethany turned to him looking shocked. "You know her wish? No fair!" She cried as she glanced between the two of them. "Why do you guys keep things from me!" She seemed as if she were about to cry and was giving them a pouty look.

"Calm down, Beth. We haven't spoken about our wishes yet," Hubert said hastily glancing around him wondering if anybody else had noticed her tiny melodramatic moment. When he found nobody was really paying attention, he eyed Charlotte and said, "And actually it's a common fact. If your thoughts happen to be focused on something per say a lot, it transfers over to your dream." This was true as she had been thinking about Harry Potter and the wizarding world a lot recently. Not surprisingly she had a dream relating to her own thoughts.

"I still don't see how it's fair that she gets to have a dream involving helping out Hermione Granger out while I think about Harry Potter a lot and my dreams involving Peter Pettigrew asking me to marry him or the Weasley twins hating my guts for no reason." Bethany insisted with a disappointed sigh. Partly because she was a bigger Potterhead than she was, that Charlotte felt guilty and a bit sad for her friend but she couldn't help with the fact that the dream happened that way. Too bad she didn't have the ability to lucid dream and change them.

"Honestly it would of have been good dream if the mountain troll hadn't barged into the bathroom." Charlotte said trying to insist that it wasn't that special. Despite this, she couldn't shake something wasn't right about the dream but couldn't place her finger on it.

"Well, you could have solved that dream by using Windgardium Leviosa." Bethany commented, waving an imaginary wand in front of her as she chanted the spell in front of her. When she stopped, she frowned and turned to them. "By the way we never talked about the wishes we made yesterday did we?" Charlotte and Hubert agreed that they hadn't since she hadn't brought it up during morning or lunch.

Normally when Charlotte made wishes she didn't like to discuss them for a fear of them not coming true but these days it didn't matter because the ones she discussed would never come real. The only one she wouldn't talk about were the wishes of having a different family since it was a personal issue.

"So let's talk about our wishes. I mean if you guys want to that is." Bethany said but Hubert and Charlotte made her go first as usual.

"Alright. My wish was for an owl to deliver my Hogwarts letter next year since my parents or these nargles, whoever are," She waved her hand as if she could careless about this. "obviously preventing me from getting one this year." When she was done, she turned to Charlotte and smiled, waiting for her answer.

"I wished that I would get to go to the wizarding world during Harry's time and relieve his adventures. I also wished that you guys would come along with so we can all go together!" Charlotte glanced to see how they were taking it. Bethany seemed touched by this for there was a glint of tears in her eyes while Hubert nodded approvingly knowing he'd like to go with her to the wizarding world if he could.

"Awww! It's such a cool wish! I hope really hope the Nargles get to it." Bethany commented, before enveloping her best friend in big hug.

"It'd be fun to relieve his adventures," Hubert agreed. "You know I'd think I'd to come along if there were ever possible." This earned him squeals and the two girls both sandwiched him into a hug almost causing him to spill his green tea that he was holding.

As she hugged Hubert, Charlotte spotted a dark-haired business man was staring in her direction. She noticed his dark hair was neatly combed, he wore round-shaped glasses, and was he was holding a suitcase. When their eyes met there was a vibe that sprung through her body. One that she wasn't sure of. Charlotte quickly let go of Hubert and sat back down trying to avoid his eye contact. Her eyes peeled to the drink in front of her like she found it interesting but she could still feel his observant eyes bore onto her.

It wasn't until she heard Hubert's voice saying, "Hey Charlotte. Are you okay?" that she found her two friends both staring at her. They both had noticed her usual behavior.

"Huh?" Charlotte replied distractedly but noticed that the mysterious businessman was no longer staring at her direction and was now conversing with a barista who was taking his order.

"You okay? Did something happen?" Bethany echoed, also sounding concerned.

"Oh, well, I have something to tell you." Charlotte indicated for them to lean forward. Once they did, she said, "Okay you see that man behind you with the dark suit and the glasses?" Her friends both turned to get a look at who she was referring to.

"Yeah. What about him?" Hubert inquired after mentally photographing the mysterious businessman.

"Well, I noticed that he was staring at us when I was hugging you." Charlotte explained to him in a low voice. He probably must have an image of the man clearly in his head by now.

"He's kind of cute," Bethany complimented still checking out the mysterious man. Cute? He was hardly anywhere cute! How could her best friend think that he was?

"Bethany! How could you say that? He's not cute! What if he's a secret axe murder or some kind of crazy stalker?!" Charlotte exclaimed at her friend's reaction. So far she was a dismal at being serious unless a situation truly called for it. Often she had been making jokes as of late which Charlotte never understood.

"Whoa, calm down, Charsey!" Bethany said putting her hands up like Charlotte was being accusatory of her own words. "I think that maybe you are reading into this too much." Bethany said glancing over her should again. "He seems—"

"Suspicious." Hubert filled in but unlike her other best friend, he wasn't smiling and seemed wary of the man too. Charlotte was grateful that he believed her yet it surprised her. It surprised Bethany too because she gave him a 'Are you kidding me?' look.

"Look," He started catching her expression. "I, too, feel like we were being watched, so I'm with Charsey on this one."

"You two are probably wrong though! What if he's just innocent man waiting to get his order and then he was checking out the place and found us interesting or he heard us." Bethany said trying to reason with them. To her, it probably seemed like the man was innocent fly on the wall for all Charlotte knew.

"Bethany! You didn't see him. He was glancing in our direction when we weren't paying attention." Charlotte hissed fiercely. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that the man was glancing down at a golden clockwatch as he was waiting for his order. It struck her as odd since he already had a watch on his wrist.

"Okay. So maybe I didn't get a memo but he-" Bethany started to say but the barista was already handing the mysterious businessman a to-go-coffee container and a bag full of bakery goods.

"Shhh guys! He's coming!" Charlotte shushed them watching as the man thank the barista before heading in their direction.

"Let's pretend to be busy." Hubert suggested quickly. So the three friends preoccupied themselves by pretending to have a conversation about one of their favorite TV shows. Charlotte sipped on her coffee and pretended that she was listening but watched the mysterious businessman from the corner of her eye.

When he passed by her, she was surprised that he hadn't seemed to acknowledge her or her friend's existence. She turned just in time to see him exiting out of the coffeehouse without a backward glance.

"Are you sure that he watching us?" Bethany spoke up a few seconds after he left. She had been watching him from the corner of her eyes too.

"Of course! I'm sure!" Charlotte insisted, surprised that her friend hadn't been fazed by the sight of him. The only thing that mattered to her so far was his cuteness which alarmed her somewhat.

"Like I said, he's kind of cute and that's why I'm sure about him. I want to say he's mysterious though…" Bethany trailed off, finishing her iced vanilla latte.

"What do you think Hubert?" Charlotte asked turning to him. Hubert sat there grim faced but didn't respond because he was still lost into his thoughts. Out of the two, he took her more seriously than Bethany had.

"I'm not sure what to make of him but looking at him I feel like I know him even though we never met." Hubert finally spoke.

"Do you hear yourselves?" Bethany interjected wearily. She stared at them like they were unbelievable. "That guy could be anybody and you're making him to be who you think you want him to be." She said pointing towards the door where the man had gone through.

Charlotte was about to tell her that the mysterious business man wasn't just any other man but never got a chance because they were interrupted by a cellphone ring. It turned out to be Bethany's and it was Bethany's mom calling her to come home since she was in charge of dinner that night at her house. It was decided after that, the three of them would continue the conversation later before they all started biking towards home.

By the time that she arrived at her house, Charlotte found a brown package placed on the doorsteps. There was even letter onto that read: _To: Charlotte Seylor_ on it. She picked it up contemplating who could of it sent it. There was no return address nor was it postmarked. _'Strange'_ she thought as she carried the package into her house.

When she got into her room, she threw the package on her bed wondering if she should open the letter or package first. It did strike her as peculiar that both the letter and the packaged box wasn't postmarked or had any returned address. For a minute she feared that whoever sent her this had intentions of harming her since she heard news stories about people being sent concealed bombs or anthrax but that stopped when she knew this idea was ludicrous and that her family weren't with the government. _'Just do it. Get over with it fast.'_ Charlotte told herself as she grabbed the letter. Opening the letter, she found not a letter as she expected but instead a scribble note. It read:

_Within this package, you'll find the answer to your dream. Open this with secrecy and show nobody but one person who comes to aid you. The items contained in here are valuable. Keep them because you'll need it on this journey. They are also the key to your most desired wish fulfilled._

It was followed shortly by something that made Charlotte's eyes bulge somewhat:

_Good luck young Muggle!_

There was no signature or indication of who sent it which made her uneasy yet also eager. What did they mean by 'the answer' to her dream and ' the key to her most desired wish'? Did it mean that somebody knew of what she dreamt last night or what wish she'd made? Yes, she told these two things that the note mentioned but only to her best friends. So who else could have known? It was possible that somebody from Chippy's had eavesdropped on their conversation. Her thoughts recalled back to the mysterious businessman and the way that he was staring at them. Wait was he the one who sent this? Is that why he was staring at them or was she being way ahead of herself? So many questions piled through her brain and she wasn't sure where to start with.

Charlotte re-read the note again stopping at the word: Muggle. A word that she'd never been called before. This was a first even though she knew that was one. The only people who used these words were other Potterheads but apart from that, she often associated these words with the dialogue of the characters that were in the pages of the Harry Potter series. This didn't make sense considering that anybody who wasn't a Potterhead would use this word at all. If she was considered a "Muggle" did that mean the letter that was sent to her came from a witch or wizard from the wizarding world?

Nonetheless in search for the answer to this, Charlotte grabbed the package, tore it open, and dumped the contents onto her bed. The note mentioned that they were valuable right? She'd figured that the sooner she'd get acquainted with the items, the better.

The "valuable" items turned out to be seven leather-bound journals, a rolled up piece of object that reminded her of a crinkled poster, and a wrapped tissue paper concealing what she guessed was a minature-sized item. '_What's so valuable about this?_' Charlotte thought picking up one of the seven leather-bound journals randomly from her bed.

Opening the journal to a random page, she noticed the entry that she was on was dated October 31 also known as Halloween. The handwriting on the page was a neat, elegant cursive one. The entry mentioned how it was Halloween and the person had looked forward to it but it went downhill because things started going wrong in Professor Flitwick's class—whoa, whoa, whoa! the girl in the journal just mentioned Professor Flitwick—did that by any chance mean that she came from the wizarding world or was this another prank? When she was done reading the journal, Charlotte couldn't help but stare at the journal for a long time in a thunder struck expression.

Okay this seriously had to a joke right? Whoever wrote this journal was pranking her because there's way that this person was real. The person also only existed in the Harry Potter books, fanfictions, and dreams but in reality? Charlotte checked the front of the journal to see who it belonged to. There scribbled inside the front cover was the name: _Hermione Granger_.

This journal belonged to Hermione Granger? The person whom she met in her dreams last night? It had to be an elaborate sort of prank. This couldn't truly be possible but yet the journal did state that it did belong to _the _Hermione Granger. Charlotte was positive that she only existed inside the pages of the Harry Potter series because Hermione wasn't certainly alive and existing now was she? If so, how come did somebody manage to get their hands on her journals and send it to her? Wasn't that theft and not to mention, this felt like an invasion of privacy. This played in Charlotte's mind as she collapsed on her bed wondering what to do next. If this was Hermione Granger's journal, it only meant one thing: Hermione Granger actually existed within their world and that also meant the wizarding world that she deemed non-existent was actually real.

**A/N:** It took a short time to write this chapter since I wrote it beforehand but I felt that I need everything from the dream to the strange package to happen. And now onward to Chapter 4!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Oh gosh. First off,can I just apologize for not updating within a year? I wanted to get back to this fanfiction as soon as I started writing it but then college took over and I was scrambling to do well with that. Not to mention, I've gone and done other things include trying to write other fanfictions, my own original stories, and just been kind of lazy. I'm sorry to those who had to wait over a year for this. I know it's ridiculous. My perfectionist side also kicked in and had me redoing this chapter over and over again. This is also quite lengthy so you can imagine how much frustration I had to go through to write this. I mean, it's not to say I don't enjoy it! I do absolutely as I cannot wait for Charsey and her friends to finally go to Hogwarts and interact with Harry, Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys, and everybody else!

I hope you enjoy this chapter. I had to do some kind of studying for the journals and whatnot which you'll see in the chapter. I wanted to make sure that I sounded true to the wizarding world as possible. Also I hope you like where I've taken Hubert and Charsey. As always, you can always review and share what you thought of this fanfiction. I'm also quite aware that I may have a lot of grammar/punctuation errors for the most part but hopefully, if I can, I'll find somebody who isn't picky enough to beta read a material such as this. Moving along, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Chapter 5 should up shortly after this!

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**Chapter 4: An Unusual Access**

Charlotte was still eyeing the Hermione Granger's journal lost in thought as to whether it was an elaborate prank or not. She also realized there were at least six other journals to leaf through along with the tissue-wrapped object and the crinkled, folded poster. She hoped those would provide the answers to her questions. Charlotte went over to her bed and found the crinkled, folded poster, the tissue-wrapped object, and the other journals lying around untouched. _'Well at least I'll have time to sort through this.' _She thought to herself with a shrug. Now which one would she dive into? The six journals in front of her? The unfolded and crinkled poster? Or the tissue-wrapped object? She never got to make a decision because just then she heard the ring of her doorbell sounding off. Who could be appearing at their doorstep this hour? Peeking out of her curtains, Charlotte tried to see who could be standing in front of her house but tried to remain concealed just in case it was an unfamiliar visitor or a solicitor but the answer came in form of Hubert who was standing patiently.

This seemed to startled Charlotte a bit. Why is he here? Didn't he already have plans with his homework? Did he forget something? Charlotte thought as she noticed him. Charlotte got out her phone, checked for messages, and saw that there was a text from him that notified her that he was coming over. _Well seems like I must of missed it then._ She thought as she pocketed her phone. It was probably because she had it on silent mode and was absorbed in Hermione Granger's journal that she hadn't been aware of that was the reason why he came over to her house too. He had wanted to make sure that she was okay. Otherwise, the only time he'd visit if there was an urgent emergency going on and he needed help or if he needed to borrow something from her.

Charlotte tore out of her room and headed downstairs. "Hey Hubert, I just got your message. Did you want something?" She greeted him after opening the door.

Hubert nodded and held up what seemed to be a letter addressed to him. _Wait did he get a letter too? _Charlotte pondered when she noticed it. "Yeah, I got this and it said—" But Charlotte was already nodding and beckoning him to follow her up the stairs where they passed Beatrice's room. They could hear the snores emitting for her sister was taking her daily after-school nap.

The two reached Charlotte's room and she gestured for Hubert to sit anywhere that he'd like. He was about to but spotted the items on the bed and stared at it as he made his way towards the chair in front of her desk. "You win a contest or is this a present from one of your relatives?" He asked eyeing them curiously after he sat down.

"Neither, actually." She replied to his curious case. He glanced at the objects curiously. "I know this because this is going to sound crazy but somebody sent me these but I'm not familiar with the person." Charlotte said after leaving the door ajar because her parents made the 'No Closed Doors When Parents Aren't Home' rule. It was too bad her parents didn't understand the platonic relationship that she and Hubert shared.

"Strange. So it's not from anybody you know?" Hubert commented but his eyes were still peeled to the objects on her bed. She knew that he wanted touch them and was wondering if she should let him. He might know about what going on but then she remembered why they were in her room in the first place.

"Before we get started with that. Why don't you explain the letter to me?" Charlotte pondered inquisitively after taking a seat at the chair at her desk. She glanced around to see if her laptop was on but so far it was off. She would of have gotten on it if it weren't for the series of mysterious events happening.

"Oh right," Hubert spoke, turning around to face her. "Okay, the thing is that as soon as I came home, I found a letter that was addressed to me, so I was trying to figure out what it meant," He started to explain. He then rummaged around his jeans pocket came up with an envelope.

Charlotte watched as he took out the paper from the envelope, unfolded it, and slid it over to her. "Here, read it." He said. The first thing that she noticed was that he also got a note but she found that it was also scrawled in the same handwriting as hers and she knew that something was up but continued reading on to see what his said:

_The one who lives across the street from you will come to a decision. A decision that will have an impact on not only themselves but those around them including you. It involves much of their desired wish and because of that they will be driven to flee away from this world. _

No wonder he decided to come over and had that letter with him. It was probably because he couldn't discuss this note with his mom but had personally wanted to make sure for himself that she was okay with it. It also explained why he texted her ahead of time to let her know that he was coming over.

_If you feel like you need to have a say before the person makes an irrational decision, go forth and join them or you will have to wait years until you see them again. Who knows? Your role in this might be pivotal and worthy of their life. _

What did they mean by worthy of her life? Did that mean that she was not going to make decision that would impact other peoples' live especially Hubert's if so what? This was getting really weird.

Then she read:

_Good luck young Muggle!_

There it was again! The Muggle word! Did this prankster, stranger, or whoever sent this letter know what kind of impact that they had on her and Hubert? So not only was he getting a different letter from the same person telling him almost entirely different but he was here to stop her from doing whatever he thought she might felt like she was doing.

"So were you thinking about taking off or anything?" Charlotte heard Hubert ask once she finished reading the letter.

"Um, I'm not sure how I can take off." Charlotte replied, confused by his question. "I mean, if I don't know where I'm actually going." What decision could she make that would lead her to go off elsewhere? She wasn't sure what he meant.

"Hubert," Charsey started to say. "Are you worried about that letter being right about me doing something that involves making a decision. I mean, if so, is that why you came here? To see if it's true or not?" She didn't think her friend actually believed the letter since he was usually skeptical to these kind of things. Somehow today that change.

"Well no, I'm not actually but I still came over to you know…just check." Hubert explained but frowned like this wasn't the main reason.

""What if it could be a prank?" Hubert paused and seemed thoughtful about this. "Maybe so," was his reply but it seemed unconvinced somewhat. Then he frowned at her and said, "You're not making any life-changing decisions are you?"

Charlotte started to laugh at this but stopped upon his serious expression. Okay so the letter he got must have been serious but was it the same person writing him. "Um no, not at the moment." She replied but was unsure. "Not unless you count the one about what college I want to go to." She grinned after this. They still might have been sophomores but Charlotte was very indecisive about college even though she had plans to go to a few of them already. Hubert grinned back as he could relate.

"I'd say that you'll decide on Lancaster Fields University or Dalesbergen Heights College." He joked.

"Hmm probably," Charlotte murmured in agreement. She decided to focus back on the letter that Hubert got. There was something odd about the fact that he got a letter from what seemed to be the same person.

"Hubert…do you think the note that you got might be a prank? I mean, because I got one too, a letter I mean."

"Really?" Charlotte nodded. "Yes, along with some items in a package." She pointed to the items that he'd noticed earlier.

"Wait. Can I see it?" Hubert asked her. Charlotte gave him the letter and Hermione Granger's journal, handing it to him saying, "Read the letter first and then the journal. Tell me if you think it's a prank or not." If there was anything who could figure this mystery out, it'd be Hubert since he was all about logical reasoning and craved mysteries.

While Hubert was reading the letter, Charlotte noticed that he was expressionless as his eyes glazed over the letter. She thought she noticed a tiny frown cross his face at one point. She figured that he must of have read the _'Good luck young Muggle'_ portion like she had. Once he was done, he took Hermione Granger's journal and examined the cover first, and peered at the inside cover for what seemed to be a longer than a few minutes before flipping through the pages of the journal and became absorbed in it.

During the time that he studied the journal, Charlotte eyed the other six journals that were lying on her bed and opened one at random. What she found in the pages was not only unfamiliar but elegant and cursive handwriting. She noticed that it was a book was full of incantations with how to pronounce them. Wait incantations? She pinched herself a couple of times but she wasn't dreaming it. _Okay…this is really strange… _She thought to herself.

However, the curiosity got the best of her, and she dived into the book. The page she landed was a random one where Hermione (or the person who wrote the journal) scrawled: '_Lumos'_ on it.

She read what it said on the page she landed on:

**First Year Spells: **

**Lumos**

_**Pronunciation: **__Loo-mose. (Loo as in the loo and mose like m in the word: dose)_

_**What is it?:**__ Lumos is a spell that is used to cast light for those who find themselves in the darkness and need something to guide their way through it. _

_**How to cast:**__ In order to cast Lumos, one can point the wand anymore and use it in a situation where they can't find themselves within the darkness. For example, if you're wandering through a dark forest or castle corridor at Hogwarts. _

_**Note:**__ It doesn't work in cases of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder (but if I find anything that clearly works, I'll update this)._

Charlotte chortled at these words for she knew who sold these products but immediately stopped when she realized the bad effects that it had. She continued to leaf through the journal silently finding other spells like Alohomora and Reducto. Ones that were familiar with her as a Potterhead who studied spells and incantations that she'd never use. They all not only sounded familiar but also from the looks of it even legit. Something told her that it probably wasn't an ordinary journal with spells in it and that maybe she really was holding something of Hermione Granger's. Come again, she was aware this might have been an elaborate prank as well.

"How's it going?" She asked Hubert after closing Hermione's first year spells journal. Hubert didn't answer her as he was still deeply invested in the journal that he was reading. After what seemed about an hour later, he glanced up and said, "If I tell you whose journal it is. You probably won't believe me would you?"

Believe him? Did she think she heard what he just say? Charlotte put one of the journals down and listened.

"I know that probably might sound uncharacteristic of me. I'll admit it right now. But what you just gave me…" Hubert started to say but glanced again at the journal as if to finalize his decision. "This journal is...no, wait, I know for a fact," He stopped again. "I know for a fact that this journal belongs to Hermione Jean Granger."

"Wait," Charlotte interjected, looking confused by this. It wasn't that she didn't agree but she felt that her best friend would never agree to this. She wondered if something hit his head along the way. "How do you know it's actually hers and not somebody else's with the same name as her?" She didn't let Hubert speak as she kept asking questions. "What if it's an elaborate prank or a something from the movies?"

Once she was done and had gave him a look of uncertainty, Hubert seemed quite puzzled by her reaction but also slowly but quietly replied, "To be honest, I don't think this is elaborate prank, Charsey." She wanted to ask him what made him say that and how he knew but he held up his hand like he knew what was going to come next.

"Trust me, a elaborate prank like this would take forever to pull off. The effort that goes into this kind of prank would" He started to explain. "Also the way this journal is written sounds like it comes from an actual human being. I mean, given the reason, why would anybody put so much detail regarding their emotional state about how much they loved subjects like Defense against the Dark Arts or Transfiguration to an elaborate study of spells like Alohomora and Windgardium Leviosa and complete with actual pictures and notes of how they studied the actual magic that one could only make up in what you and Bethany read as fanfiction?"

Charlotte didn't speak because of two things: first, she was still in shock of the way he spoke about it and two, he actually seemed to believe that the journal belonged to the person who could be _the_ Hermione Granger. Not somebody with the same name or a crafty writer who can be a poser.

"I don't get it," She heard herself speaking up after this. "How is it that you are so sure about everything that you just told me is real? What if somebody was truly elaborating a prank and no offense, but you're a fool to believe it?" She wanted to believe her friend but felt also that she needed to stay on the 'just in case' route at the same time as well.

"This is going to sound odd coming from me," Hubert responded. "But I don't think somebody would joke nor attempt this kind of prank." He proved his point by giving her one of the journals. "Look at the bounding and you'll see what I mean." He instructed. Charlotte examined the bounding of the journal. So far it was leather much like the journals she'd seen but it reminded her of the old historical used that passed by on tours of different museums and locations. The book did seem kind of dusty if she scanned it carefully. Not to mention the designs reminded her of the ones back in the late 40s.

"Can I also show you something?" Hubert asked after she was glancing at the journal. She gave it back to him and he flipped through the journal pages, landed on it, and handed it to her. "Now give this a look."

Charlotte took the journal and stared down at what seemed to be a picture of a badly-drawn creature that a straggly figure lines with wings. She could only assume was a Cornish Pixie because of the way the person colored its eyes to an inky-filled circle. "I also examined the writing and I feel that it's not inked by a pen." She heard Hubert explain to her while she read it. She flipped the page to see if there was any other drawing but couldn't help but let a gasp.

"You're right," She agreed after doing so.

"So I am but what makes you say that?" He wanted to know. She handed him the journal. When he saw what she saw, he whispered, "Is that what I think it is?" No way that this was real. It just didn't exist today. Of course, it was only used for displays possibly in historical museums and if not there, often rarely used. Yet there it was lying between two pages of writings: it was a brown quill.

"Too bad there's no ink but try pressing it to the page," Hubert commented as he took it from Charlotte and turned over a page and started to press it like he was going to write something in the journal.

"Well it's odd how the person didn't send an ink with it. Even if that's the case, the quill is very real." Hubert concluded after examining the quill and analyzing it over and over with his eyes.

"What if the quill's actually fake? How can you be so sure?" Charlotte countered, even though the quill was very real after she had touched it. She couldn't explain what it was but she guessed it came from a large type of bird like an eagle or pheasant. She noticed the color of this particular quill was black and gold.

"Honestly? I have no idea why but this journal makes me believe that it's real because…" Then he stopped and realized that he didn't seem to give her the answer she wanted. "Well because, crazy as it sounds, I have a gut feeling about this. I don't know how or why but I always listen to it when it's right. And now? Something's telling me that it's real despite everything else." He finished, sounding resolute about this.

_Yeah somebody who's probably crazy that's for sure. _Charlotte thought, trying not to shudder.

Of course, she didn't say those words. Most of the time, Hubert's gut was right but most times. Focusing on her thoughts to what the journal was about. She kept glancing at the bounding to the contents of the journal.

"I know…but if they wanted to us to believe that it was real?" Charlotte went on, unconvinced despite the fact that her insides were tugging at her to believe what he just said.

The evidence was all there. It wasn't that she didn't want to; she did but also didn't want the hope she was gaining to skyrocket and then plummet afterwards when it didn't real. So it became natural for her to stubborn

"Fine, don't believe me," Hubert sighed, throwing his hands up. She knew that he was probably exasperated by her doubts and yet she kept pestering at the topic.

"I do believe you! It's just—" She stopped when she saw his eyes glazing over to the items on her bed. Oh right! The package that she got today! Hubert walked over to her bed, picked up the small tissue-wrapped item, and handed it to her.

"You haven't opened this have you?" He wanted to know. Charlotte glanced at him for a second trying to figure out where he was going with this but knew that he was on to something. Taking the tissue-wrapped item from him, she fingered the shape of it, and was aware that it was circular after much examination.

"You're right. I haven't but what do you suppose could be in here?" She asked, looking up at him.

"I'm not sure but we'll find out right?" Hubert said gesturing for her to open it but Charlotte went back to fingering the item. The only thing she could do was guess what the object was unless she opened it. The item was definitely miniature in size and there were many objects that came to her mind: could it be a trinket? A piece from a board game? Or could it also be a piece of jewelry or a box that held it?

The curiosity, however, grew and suddenly Charlotte found herself removing the tissue paper and held up what seemed to be a blue handheld mirror. The mirror was ancient looking as it was scattered with coats of dirt and the paint seemed like it was chipping off. Not to mention, parts of the mirror had lines of slight cracks. The circular head was glazed with flowery-etched symbols that twirled around the sides of the head. The handle was smooth in surface but really, it wasn't anything special. Sure it held minor beauty to it but Charlotte wondered why anybody would send her an old mirror if it wasn't good for use.

"A handheld mirror? I wonder how old that one is." Hubert commented once he saw it. His eyes then landed on something else too. "Hey look, there's a note." He took the piece of folded paper that fell onto her bed, unfolded the paper, and scanned it.

"What does it say?" Charlotte wanted to know as she peered over his shoulder, trying to read it too. This handwriting seemed a lot smaller in contrast to the letters they got. It made it harder to read.

"It says…" He squinted at the letter.

"Here, let me see that," Charlotte said, holding out her hand. Hubert handed her the note and once she read it, she noticed that it was from a different person as the handwriting in this one was more unreadable. Despite this, she continued to squint and read it:

_My replica sleeps in your backyard. It'll remain there until 5:30 p.m. sharp. When you have it in your procession: touch it, count to 3 or backwards if you prefer, wait, and it shall take you to a place that is far away from where you are and no longer one of your own recognition._

Once she finished reading the note after a few times. What could the note mean anyway? Far away and no longer of your own recognition? Where was that? It could be anywhere but where was that? _Did the note mean the wizarding world or elsewhere? _Charlotte pondered, her mind drifting back to the wish.

"You know I think this note is the answer to what my letter was explaining to me before." Hubert grinned but not a smug one but rather anticipation. Charlotte couldn't help but begin to share his feelings too even though it seemed different the way he was acting. They both exchanged intrigued glances.

"Hubert do you think it could be…" Charlotte started to say but closed her mouth quickly. What did the note mean by 'shall take you far away from where you are'? Was it possible that her wish was coming true? The handheld mirror didn't strike her much other than it appeared somewhat rusty and ancient-looking.

"Could be what?" Hubert was puzzled by her expression.

Charlotte tried to rack her brain for the second time as to why the object sounded so familiar. It was something that she had read before that witches and wizards used for transportation, wait a minute, something that took witches and wizards to different locations apart from riding a broom and floo powder but what was it?

"Do you think it's a…" She tried again, not sure of what else to call it.

"A what?" He was still confused by her words.

Oh what was it called? There had to be a name for it! It started with what letter? G? No, not a G. What about J, T, or B? Nah. Somehow those letters didn't sound right. She racked her brain for every letter in her head until she got to a P. Wait a minute…a P! What did the P in the wizarding world aside from Harry's last name stand for? _'Come on, think, think, think!_' She willed herself. Something with the letter P and it would take her to places. Then finally it came to her! A portkey! That's what it was!

"A portkey! Hubert, I think it's a portkey!" Charlotte wondered out loud. Her insides begin to soar with a rushing sensation that only materialized after this. If it was a portkey…then that meant that the wizarding world could be real!

"You mean one of the magical means of transportation in the wizarding world? I mean, that's what I can recall from my readings of Goblet of Fire." Hubert answered, startled.

"Yeah, that's what I think it is." Charlotte said, caressing the frame of the mirror rather gently. If this mirror was a portkey… that meant they could go to another world! Okay, just maybe. She had to be realistic just in case it wasn't real. If! Only and if!

"Hmmm…you're actually right. It could be that. Because when I first saw that," Hubert pointed at the handheld mirror that she was still holding. "I actually wanted to throw it out and regard it as joke since it's definitely an antique item store item but after I read the note…"

"Yeah …?" Charlotte said after he paused but he gone silent after eyeing the mirror for what seemed more than seconds. He was probably still trying to debate about what she just told him or process what it was doing here in her bedroom. "Okay, reading about portkey out of curiosity as to how it functions in the story," He began and seemed to sound as though he wouldn't mind doing so. "This might sound wild but I seriously think we should test what the note said. Don't you?" Did she hear that right? He wanted to actually experiment with the mirror to see if it was a portkey? Not that she didn't want to or believe what he was going on about but this was Hubert. He was the one who was the logical one with reasoning that pertained to the depth of factual information and whatnot. It was him who never thought the possibility of a stranger's note that he just read with her could be real nor take a chance at magic that she could possibly ceased to exist.

"You mean about the replica of this mirror?" Charlotte said, trying to see if he was tired but his bright eyes filling with anticipation revealed that he was fully awake.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about." Hubert said. She was about to argue back that it might have been a trick but he seemed pretty adamant about his decision earlier and didn't bother trying to waste her breath. They'd just have to find out later wouldn't they?

"Um sure, why not?" Charlotte had said instead. It couldn't hurt to at least try it out though right? Maybe it'd take her away the doubts swimming in her mind. So trying to appear eager, she asked: "Do you want to test it out now?"

Hubert was about to answer but his grin faded after he looked like he just realized something. "Hubert, what's wrong?" Charlotte was now concerned by her friend's sudden change of reaction. She wondered if he was reconsidering this or thinking about their argument earlier. "I was thinking...w-what about Bethany? I-I mean shouldn't we let her know about this? We can't leave without her now could we? Remember your wish?" His voice was quiet again and he looked up at her genuinely bothered by this.

Charlotte felt guilt tearing down her face after he mentioned this. _Oh right. Bethany! _ She had momentarily forgotten about her other best friend after they both found themselves absorbed in the mysterious mail. It also wasn't like her to not think about her other best friend. The question floated into her brain: how could she have forgotten her very own best friend? Did that mean that she valued going to Hogwarts without her other best friend? She certainly hoped not but she knew that Hubert was right. They both couldn't definitely leave Bethany behind especially with the turns of events.

"You're right." Charlotte agreed with him. "Fine. We pack all this stuff, head over to Bethany's and see if she's home, then head to my backyard, find that replica of the mirror in my backyard, and then test it and find out if it works or not. How does that sound?" She suggested hopefully. There, it was already a better plan already. It was the only plan that she felt certain that she had at the moment. A plan that wouldn't also leave her other best friend out either.

"Fine but let's just say what if Bethany's not home. I know she did mention about fixing dinner but you know…" Hubert started to mention this. Charlotte knew that he wasn't going to leave her behind nor did she want to but had a strong feeling that they might have to for some odd reason, whether they liked it or not.

"Yeah, her family can be spontaneous at times." Charlotte agreed. She could recall that Bethany sometimes whined about not hanging out with them on weekends because her family wanted to drag her to places often times.

"I'd say that unless the portkey doesn't work, we don't tell Bethany considering we don't have to deal with her wrath and maybe just forget about the whole thing." Hubert suggested thoughtfully as if he were thinking another way about this. Charlotte couldn't help but find herself snickering at this.

"So you agree with me then?" Hubert asked her.

"Yes, I do but what if the portkey doesn't work and it was just a hoax?" She heard herself again. Yes, the doubts still ran in her mind but only because of how today's events went. Something about didn't seem right either. "I mean, if it is, then we'll get rid of the journals, forget about this whole thing, and by doing that, Bethany doesn't have to know." Hubert seemed to see where she was going because he nodded as to understand what she meant.

"It's like I said before, if she doesn't know then we don't have to feel bad about her not going to the wizarding world with us." Hubert said finishing Charsey's thoughts. It was kind of funny too considering they switched roles on each other considering she'd be more excited about this whereas Hubert would be more realistic about it like she was at the moment.

"Yeah but what if it works and we don't give a shot?" Hubert continued on. Then he peeled his eyes over to Charsey's desk like he was lost in thought.

"I do, Hubert, I do. I'm just saying just in case. I mean, what if it doesn't work and it turns out to be a joke after all?" Charlotte muttered at the last part.

"We'll have Plan B." Hubert finally said after much silence that filled the air between them as they tried to come up with another plan.

It didn't take long before they agreed to Plan B. This plan would be that if Bethany wasn't around, they'd deliver her a letter of explanation of what happened to them. They would text but she rarely answered her phone these days and they felt like it had to be in person or means that would get her attention. While Hubert agreed to write the letter and Charlotte decided to prepare her things. The two of them got ready. Hubert sat down on her desk and started composing a long letter that would explain the events of what happened today. Charlotte, on the otherhand, went on a searching frenzy. She needed something that could her items in. So she crounched down on the ground and searched under her bed.

"What time is it? If so, how much time do we have?" She asked her best friend as her eyes scanned the random items buried from underneath the bed. Time might be an important factor today for all she knew.

"Well it is 4:30, so half and a hour from now," Hubert noted when he glanced at her analog clock in her room. He went back to composing the letter. "We still have time to convince her to come with us. What time do your parents get home?" She knew that he was afraid of them getting caught doing something unfamiliar to them.

"They usually get home about five but I think they come home later on Fridays like around six? It depends." Charlotte told him.

_Even then, they wouldn't notice what activities are going to be held in the backyard since they rarely pay attention to me._ She eyed random journals that she used, books that she hadn't read in a while, and some figurines under her bed. None of those things would work.

"Sounds good." Hubert glanced up from his letter. "Now if anything happens, we'll use the goose on the loose signal."

The Goose on The Loose was a signal made by him and passed to her and Bethany. It was basically silly movements involving goose-flapping gestures and honking sounds that the three of them used for communication between themselves. Nobody could understand what it meant apart from them since Hubert was the inventor of it. He convinced them it one of the ways that the goose communicated with one another.

"Got it!" Charsey exclaimed when she found a scarlet-palette backpack. Despite its timeworn and dusty appearance, it had enough zipper compartments to put her packaged items along with the notes that her and Hubert got in the mail. This was perfect for her and Hubert to carry their items for what could be possibly their journey into another realm. Well, that is if the replica handheld mirror was an actual portkey that truly functioned.

After Hubert finished writing the letter to Bethany, Charlotte stuffed it into her pocket. Once they packed everything from their letters to the quill and the seven journals, they finally ready to head on out. They both had to tip-toe out of her room considering her sister was still napping, down the stairs, opened the back door and slip outside swiftly and quietly (after making the door was completely locked) before heading next door to Bethany's house.

Once they arrived on the front steps of Bethany's door, the two waited outside after Hubert rang the doorbell.

"How do you think she'll take it?" Charlotte said, trying to prepare herself for how her other best friend would take this news. She figured that maybe Bethany wouldn't believe them until evidence showed up. That or she'd believed it the whole time and would go with them. The latter sounded right thought considering how obsessed her friend was with the Harry Potter series.

"She'll probably be happy or call us crazy unless it becomes real…" Hubert trailed off. They waited for a big longer to see if the door would open or not.

"Do you think we pressed it hard enough?" Charlotte asked when there was no answer. She wasn't sure if she heard the usual chimes playing on the first try.

"Yeah…I think so….let's try again." Hubert agreed, pressing it again. They heard chimes playing multiple of times. Nothing happened.

Hubert frowned and turned to Charlotte. "That's peculiar. Isn't Bethany home

"Yeah, she had to set up dinner today and all that." Charlotte recalled, trying to remember what happened in the coffee shop earlier that day.

"Let's try again, maybe she got into her music or something…" Hubert said, as he rang the doorbell again.

Still, there was no answer, after several attempts but nobody answered. "Do you think somebody broke in?" Charlotte was beginning to worry now. It wasn't likely that it'd happen considering they'd know because of how small their neighborhood was.

"No. I mean if they did, Bethany would give them a sign of struggle and—" He didn't get to finish his sentence when a sound of a, "Message Received." interrupted them.

"Is that yours?" Charlotte asked, aware that her cell phone texting notification didn't say those words.

"Yeah, it is." Taking out his cell phone, Hubert's eyes skimmed quickly and then held out the phone to Charlotte.

Charlotte found that it was a text message that read:

_Hey Charsey and Hubert, _

_Just letting you know that if you're looking for me, I'm going to be at my uncle's house in Indiana. You see after I came home from our coffe hang out, my family decided to spontaneously surprise me before I came home to cook dinner. _

It was the first message that cut out because the text notification said, "Message Received!" The second message continued to read:

_So we're going to visit one of my relatives in Indiana. I probably might not be on my phone much but contact me if there's an emergency. Otherwise, see you guys on Monday! Bye!_

_3_

_Bethany._

Well, at least it was a good thing that she had sent them a text message because she felt Hubert would jump to the worst conclusion ever. She didn't want him to worry too much considering she was the one who worried and well, Hubert was the logical one who usually was calm and rationalized about ideas. Well, usually.

"I guess there's our answer." Charlotte said glumly although she was relieved that her friend was safe. "So what do you suppose we do now?"

"I'm not sure although we should leave the letter and then test out the portkey. You know go with Plan B." Hubert said with some reluctance.

"Yeah, I remember Plan B." Charlotte recalled with a nod as she took out an envelope and placed it into Bethany's mailbox that was attached to the side of her house.

"I guess. I mean, we'll be alright if it doesn't work right?" Hubert suggested as they walked over to her backyard from Bethany's house. Charlotte knew he was trying to be optimistic for their sake considering they might of left Bethany behind if it worked. Only if.

As they got to her backyard, Hubert and Charsey decided to make it easier by splitting up and examining the specific areas in her backyard for the portkey. Hubert would search nearby the shed and the left side of the birches. Charlotte agreed to take the right side of her yard which consisted a set of logs and other birches although it could be anywhere in her backyard but it might had to be hidden just in case any other Muggle, apart from them, were to get their dirty hands on it. Finally after much scanning of her backyard from where her broken pool was to under the trampoline, Charlotte identified a tiny blue object that was lying nearby the tall birches that separated the yard from her and the neighbor's that lived behind her on her end.

"Hubert! Look over there!" Charlotte called over to him. Hubert, who had been searching around nearby her shed, glanced up, saw where she pointed to, and nodded. The two of them hurried in that direction. They stopped a couple of meters away from the birches in front of the exact replica mirror that Hubert got from out of Charlotte's backpack.

"This is it Charsey." He sounded breathless. "The replica mirror that the note was talking about." Hubert was saying as he picked up the replica of the mirror that Charlotte had in her backpack. He took out the mirror and matched them together.

"Yes, it's real." He was saying while Charlotte stared at it, trying to grasp at the fact that it was so. A tiny part of her wondered if the person might of have bought the same two mirrors but that seemed impossible unless you were working with a duplication spell or wanted the same mirror for future use. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed something. When she turned to see what it was, she found a white parchment was lying next to it which caused her eyes to widen in shock but picked it up and glanced at it.

"Hubert, look." She gave him a light nudge. His eyes tore away from the mirror to what she was holding.

"Is that a parchment?" Hubert gasped, awed by what they were staring at. Charlotte could only nod in response because her reaction matched his.

"What does it say?" He inquired.

"Let's find out shall we?" Charlotte answered as she unrolled the parchment and their eyes found a message that was blotted with ink.

The parchment read:

_Greetings Muggles,_

_At exactly 5:30 p.m. (which is your time), the portkey in front of you will be ready to whisk you off on your journey. However, this parchment is important, as it'll guide you throughout much of it. Please do not show this parchment to anybody for it is only important to you and your eyes only. If you do show it to anybody else in your world or ours, it'll put many of us in grave danger. _

_To conceal it from other eyes apart from yours, all you have to do is fold it back and whisper, "I do not believe in this wretched parchment I am holding," and it'll turn into a page from the Fairytale that many of you know as Cinderella. _

_Good luck on your journey!_

"But I'm not a Muggle! I'm a witch!" Charlotte wailed after reading this. Too bad, Bethany couldn't make it. They'd be giggling about it if she was here now. Well, somewhat that is.

"Maybe they don't know that but we'll see won't we?" Hubert said, taking out the replica again. Or what could be the portkey.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Charlotte agreed, folding up the parchment again and stored it safely into her backpack. "What's the time right now?"

Hubert got out his watch and glanced at it. "Only five minutes but we have to start to test it out right now, just in case."

"No, it's fine. I think it's the perfect time right now. Okay, you know how this supposedly works right?" Charlotte asked him.

"Yes, touch any part of the mirror and she which one you can grip onto." It didn't take long for Charlotte to find the circular head of the mirror and touched it like she was going to hang onto it. Hubert followed suit by holding onto the handle.

"Okay, what next?" Charlotte inquired, suddenly wondering if the weather seemed to be changing as dark clouds began to form above them.

"The counting. One of us got to count slowly to 3." Hubert told her. He tried to remain clam but Charlotte thought he sounded somewhat unsure of himself.

"Okay fair enough. Who's counting? Me or you?" Charlotte asked him, wondering how much they have left.

"I will." Hubert said finally. Charlotte didn't say anything. It was going to happen and they were going to leave Bethany behind. She wasn't sure if she wanted to do this even if this meant her dream coming through.

Hubert saw it too because his eyes filled with as he said, "It's worth the shot right? Besides, if it came true, Bethany might join us later, you'd never know" Charlotte eyed him and sighed. She knew that he was trying to be optimistic for her considering Bethany wasn't around to do so.

"You're right, let's do this." She said with a small smile. With a sigh, Charlotte listened as Hubert started to count:

"1…..." As he counted slowly with a few seconds passing by, Charlotte stood there wordlessly clinging to the mirror. It would of appeared silly to anybody who noticed this but Charlotte's thoughts strayed far from it.

"1...and a half..." She tried to mentally prepare herself for the reaction that would come when they reached to could happen then? If the portkey did work could they be in the Next Generation timeframe like they were now? Or could they go back in time? If so, what timeframe would they go land in? Could it be the Golden Trio's time at Hogwarts, the Marauder's Era, or way back even before then? Of course, going back in time meant there was a time-turner involved and if anything Hubert would be all over it by then.

"2..." A silence reigned over them. Charlotte wasn't sure if she should encourage him to keep counting but so far nothing happened. There was no change of the scenery nor were there hardly any signs of their bodies about to become moving objects although Charlotte could feel the strands of her hair lifted by a soft breeze that swept through the afternoon sky.

"2 and a half..."

"3..." Charlotte could see that Hubert remained blank before he stared down at the handheld mirror in front of him.

_I guess it's nothing happening…_Charlotte concluded gloomily when her best friend hadn't counted for a while. She could feel energy that pulsed her vain drained from her. She couldn't blame Hubert for wanting to experiment this and knew that it was a good idea but what if she had been right the whole time? No! This is worth the shot!

Suddenly, without warning, her body launched forward in a rapid pace, her feet were no longer on the grass—wait a minute her feet weren't on the grass?—Charlotte gazed downward just to find herself floating somewhat but an invisible force that pulled her caused her to grip onto the mirror, even tighter. She wasn't sure it'd work but there was no way that she was letting go. Her body was thrown into a spinning motion of a variety of colors. The two of them screamed while their shoulders contacted. It didn't take long before she felt herself being chucked forward briskly onto the grassy lawn below. The landing would have been a perfect one if she had landed on her feet but instead after her feet met with grass, she collapsed into it. When she rose to her feet, she found Hubert was lying next to her and was moaning.

"Are you okay?" Charlotte asked, offering him a hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Hubert responded and took her hands.

Without much effort considering he was light, she pulled him up from the ground. When he stood, he glanced around the grassy area that they landed on. "Where do you suppose the portkey went to anyway?" He brushed the grass off of his jeans.

"Probably somewhere around here," Charlotte said, not really caring where it went. "I still can't believe that was a portkey!" This time her voice was filled with awe and giddy.

Then making sure that it truly was, her eyes traveled from the grassy lawn they were standing on to a lane filled with pebbles on the road nearby. Her eyes trailed up the road and lead her to what seemed to be a peculiar large house. It wasn't just any house though. This particular house that stood over them consisted of stony-filled pigpens, Charlotte noticed. On top of the house were five chimneys decorating the cherry-painted roofs. But it was the crooked-structure that made kept her eyes focused on the house. How did it hold up the pigpens anyway? It was probably magic considering there was no other way to explain it. Magic? Was it possible? Isn't that how they got to this place or were able to read the inked message of the parchment?

Charlotte stepped towards the peculiar house but somehow, this house seemed be familiar with her. It was like she had seen or read about it but where? She remained standing as her thoughts began to process where she was. She enough to ring the doorbell, that is, if these people who lived here did have one.

"Say, do you recognize this place at all? Because I know I do." Hubert observed, trying to make sense of this place. Charlotte was about to agree that she did so but sounds of clucking that came from nearby distracted them. Turning around, Charlotte and Hubert found themselves eyeing several brown chickens scuttling about pecking on what to seem bits of their food. They were enclosed in a coup.

_Okay. So who would keep chickens and have a strange yet cool looking house in this universe?_ She tried to rack her brain for the answer. It had to come to her sooner or later.

"Charsey," She heard Hubert say. "please tell me that my eyes aren't playing tricks on me or am I imagining _that_." She turned to see that his eyes already widening but still glued to the house.

"What do you mean? You're not imagining it. I see it too." She was definitely aware of how real the house was even though she did shut and open her eyes to see if she was dreaming but nothing happened and she ended back in front of the house.

"Wait a minute. You don't recognize this place do you?" Hubert asked, lowering his voice.

"Yeah, I think I do. It seems familiar doesn't it?" Charlotte commented, still observing the house. She could also hear pigs also oinking nearby as well. The house did have crooked structure but somehow it seemed to be held up. Charlotte wasn't sure of the source but yet there was something familiar about the house they were gazing up at. She could assume that they probably landed in a roadside of a country somewhere. The main question was as to where it was located exactly.

Hubert stopped glancing at the house and stared at her. "You seriously don't know what this place is Charsey?" Shock filled his voice. Charlotte was about to ask him why he was reacting this way until he said, "I'm surprised you don't recognize it by now considering you're a fan of the Weasleys." Wait a minute. Did she hear that right? The Weasleys?

"You mean the one in front of us?" Charlotte hissed back, still unsure of where this was going but when he mentioned the Weasleys…it did bring something back to her.

"Of course, the one in front of us! You don't see any other houses do you?" Hubert shot back as if his best friend needed another reminder. Charlotte didn't answer her and instead glanced around trying to spot any houses nearby but found none.

The answer came to her when her eyes spotted a woody, crooked sign nearby in block letters that read: _The Burrow_. _Oh. My. Hippogriff. _ Her thoughts were saying. This couldn't be right yet the sign did say those words. It probably explained the sounds of chickens and pigs along with the house that was probably was filled magic that was able to explain the crooked structure of the house.

"Oh my gosh. We are at the Burrow aren't we?" Charlotte squeaked finally. Hubert didn't answer but slowly nodded.

This was a joke right? Hearing its name wasn't just astonishing but also unattainable due to the fact that it housed The Weasleys. Okay what if they did land in the Weasleys' territory then it meant that she could possibly be meeting with the nine of them soon but which one? It also depended on the timeframe that they landed on. _No._ Charlotte willed herself not to think about this.

_All of what we're seeing in front of us is probably an illusion. _ There was no way that her and Hubert could actually be within reaches of the wizarding family that she read about. This place that was hovering above her couldn't be real. Yeah, she truly wanted it to be but what if the Burrow faded into a dream that she could possibly have woken up from? The one where she encountered Hermione and The Mountain Troll had definitely vanished as it had been a dream. Yeah that was probably it! They were probably in another dream but this one was more realistic! Shutting her eyes, Charlotte tried to command herself to wake up but when she opened them again, she found herself still rooted in front of the Burrow.

After that, she tried other techniques including the famous pinching to slapping her face but stopped after receiving minor injuries to herself. However, she didn't try anything else because, at that moment, it just occurred to her that she definitely wasn't dreaming nor was she hallucinating or imagining it. No, this time it was different. This was because this time it was undeniably real. Upon the realization this caused a genuine smile to play on her lips. Come again, there was a matter of a tiny question that rang in her mind though, If the portkey did work than who could of have sent them here and why?


End file.
